AUGUST EVENT PT 1

[citta]

AUGUST EVENT PT 1

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 8/3-8/4 School Cultural Festival

Good morning!! The crows start cawing at the crack of dawn and they're really noisy, but while they're usually a nuisance on the best of days, perhaps the wake-up call will be appreciated this weekend, as the school gates are open over the weekend for the annual cultural festival the students have been hard at work on for the past few weeks. It's an open event for family and friends to come enjoy themselves, or perhaps get dragged into helping out in a booth or two, as some of the students have called in sick or can't be reached at all. Either way, the general commotion centered around the school is probably even loud enough to be heard all the way over in Castle Ouma if you're quiet enough. I don't know how else to get you guys who still live in the castle ruins over here... Hopefully you've been hearing people talking about it all of last month? Or maybe you're a newcomer who's just woken up in the castle ruins, spent ten seconds with Kokichi, and decided to leave the forest and never return, that's also very plausible.

Involving the elementary, middle, and high school buildings on their shared campus, all the typical sorts of booths can be found, including a school play performed by the elementary school students in the auditorium in the morning, and various concerts or performances held throughout the day. In the classrooms, food stalls and cafes are common, along with haunted houses for the braver souls. Rumors say that sometimes people who enter the haunted houses never come out the other side... but never mind that. It's fine. Sports clubs hold friendly competitions outside on the field, and many cultural clubs have displays of their work to show off in their club rooms, so there's plenty to do and see and eat all around campus. Despite all the preparation, however, some of the stalls appear to be empty, others with students frantic about not having enough people to keep things rolling smoothly. Looks like the strange illness going around town last month hasn't completely resolved yet, but maybe it's best for those who are ill to stay home in a crowded place like this.

For those seeking something quieter, tucked away in a corner of the high school building next to a struggling yakisoba stand is a fortune telling tent which doesn't seem to be getting many customers. The line is short and there's no fee, so why not give it a shot? Inside, a hooded figure sits, head bowed and face completely obscured in shadow aside from their chin, illuminated by a cheap looking crystal ball placed in the center of the table. A stack of cards lays on their left, a bag of something smelling faintly sweet and spicy sitting on their right. Without prompting, the fortune teller speaks in a low soft voice, greeting you by name. Weird. Weirder yet, they go on to address you by the arcana on your omamori, be it The Fool or The Hermit or what have you, and rather than answering any questions you may have about your future, the fortune teller instead offers one of two messages:

『To return to where you hailed, you must return to where you arrived. Take with you that which bears the name of the being you have banded together to defeat, and restore what once was.』
or
『When the moon's face shines full and bright, at the cusp of night and day, return to the place of beginnings. Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai must be played, to return two lost souls to this world.』

Huh... Before you can ask any questions, however, your time is up and the next person in line is already pushing you out the seat to the exit. You can always return to the end of the line to have another go, but... curiously, when you enter the tent any subsequent times, a high schooler in uniform greets you, bright and chipper. Home? Souls?? She has no idea what you're talking about if you repeat the messages from before, but never mind that! She can read your fortune!! Maybe you'll let her show off some palmistry and— oh... your life line is rather short... Unfortunate. Never mind, we'll try tarot instead and- hm. That sure is The Tower. Oh well, time's up, next person please!

On Sunday evening as the festivities wind down, a bonfire has been set up in the middle of the field, adding to the unnaturally hot summer night. It's still pretty, though, with the sky dark and bright stars starting to peek out, blankets laid out across the grass and sweet potatoes being passed around to be roasted by the fire. Take the time to relax and breathe... because it's un/fortunately a festival month and the villagers are hype about their festivals.

→ 8/6-8/8 Tanabata Festival

While the students had been hard at work setting up the school festival, the rest of the town had been preparing for the tanabata festival, with stalls set up encircling the entire lakefront at the center of town. Yukata can be bought or rented, along with traditional hand fans to ward off the heat of the summer, and many of the typical food stalls and carnival games can be found, including stalls where you can test your luck in scooping goldfish/yo-yos/other small plastic toys, shooting targets with cork rifles, attempting the rigged ring toss that's impossible to win without cheating, or playing the lottery with tickets for free food from the stalls as consolation prizes. Maybe your luck sucks and you just want to buy stuff and that's fine too. Come with full wallets and leave with full stomachs filled with yakitori skewers, sweet or savory dango, roasted sweet potato, and the seasonal favorite: shaved ice. It's seasonal because it's summer and summer is so hot. This particular summer feels like hell and halfway through the last day, they run out of syrup, but cups of plain ice are still selling very well, so... yay...

While some of the stalls are already heavy with decoration, others are pretty sparse, with the lack of people running them. Which is fine, or intended, because there are workshops held all around for teaching and encouraging people to make decorations meant to improve different aspects of one's life: paper kimonos for artistic ability, strings of a thousand paper cranes for long and healthy lives, paper purses for wealth, colorful streamers for handicraft, wastebaskets for cleanliness, and of course, tanzaku- paper strips hung up on bamboo trees for a wish to be granted by the gods. Decorations are judged for artistic ability, with a small prize given to the best decoration judged at the end of each night.

In the evenings, stages set out along the lakeside feature folk dance performances, and decorations are collected to be lit on fire and sent off in small boats in the lake, the collection of flames giving off a soft light as the paper burns down and turns to ash, reclaimed by the lake as they sink. A reminder from the townspeople to anybody who stands too close to the lake: please do not touch the water. On the very last evening of the festival, a fireworks show is held, shooting up overhead above the lake and is visible anywhere around town, raining down sparks of gold and red, hell fire from the sky.

...Also hell fire in the woods. It's been windy and dry all month, and a small forest fire has started at the edge of town, be it from arson or by accident. The villagers cut the evening short to go help, as there is no established fire fighting service, so any and all assistance would be appreciated. Somewhere nearby, a child starts to cry, unable to find his mother. With the villagers pulled away, the night ends with the stalls left empty. Nobody comes to clean up the next morning...

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ As mentioned in the OOC plotting post, a heat wave befalls the town and NPC villagers start disappearing until the daitengu from last month is defeated. 2 more dungeon threads must be submitted before 8/11 to secure the ofuda. Lockdown continues to occur each midnight, with the school transforming into the dungeon; details can be found on last month's event log.
⬥ For the cultural festival: characters will receive a hint about either 1) how to return home (take the ofuda received after beating the dungeon boss to the castle ruins), or 2) how to summon the Velvet Room attendants (playing Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai at the castle ruins during the full moon), and are highly encouraged to discuss both messages amongst themselves. Characters may learn more about how to play Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, date of the full moon, etc. by asking around town.
⬥ On 8/12 (ICly dated on 8/15, the night of the full moon), a mini-log will go up encompassing both of these findings.
⬥ For the tanabata festival: each character may claim one small wish pending mod approval at any time this month (comment below) for writing their wish down on a tanzaku, and 3 characters will be randomly chosen on 8/12 as winners for the decoration judging, and will be contacted at that time for the option of receiving an additional wish.

Comments

Mod Questions

[citta]

If you have any questions, please leave them here!

Tanzaku Wishes

[citta]

Each character may have one small wish granted. Please report your wishes here. As a reminder, 3 characters will be randomized to receive an additional wish on 8/12 and will be contacted at that time.

[overstrain]

i. 8/3 schoolfes - fear is only an emotion

[ It's around mid-afternoon and if you saw Terry earlier in the day, you probably saw him with Kido and two other kids. He isn't around them anymore and it's not like he lost the kids or anything! Definitely not!! Okay, yeah. He did, but he knows where they are now, so it's fine. He'll pick them up later. For those who heard that he died and wondering why he's up and about, he looks completely fine. He doesn't even have a single bandage or gauze this time! He's here to have fun.

You might see him outside the haunted house, looking around to see if there's anyone he knows, or anyone who looks bored. It's time to give them the experience of their lives-- ]

Hey! Wanna go to the haunted house together?

[ He's looking pretty excited to go in and going alone is boring. He's pretty sure it can't top the dungeon crawling uneasiness that has been a thing for the past month either. ]


ii. 8/4 schoolfes - semi-locked - what about ones who don't have souls

[ Guess who's been to the weird fortune teller? Terry has, and after his attempt to stand back in line to go at it again and having told that his fortune was that his lifeline is pretty short (it actually is), he got creeped out, and is now looking for someone who he has talked to in the past month and know that they're a Persona user. Once he finds them in the school festival, he tries to get their attention by grabbing their shoulder. ]

I need to talk to you.

[ He says in the most serious tone he can muster. ]


iii. 8/7 tanabata - 1000 paper cranes for an undying demigod

[ Terry has been doing absolutely everything he can get his hands on at the festival. It's his first time at a town-wide festival, so he's pretty excited and doing all sorts of things everywhere. If you stuck around at the festival long enough, maybe you'll start to wonder if Terry is just everywhere.

He's a little calmer after a while. Maybe he ran out of energy by now, but he's over at a workshop, folding a bunch of paper cranes. He knows how to fold various types of paper airplanes, but cranes are a little harder to do. If you're a passerby, feel free to bother Terry. If you're in the workshop itself, Terry thinks you know what you're doing and goes over to you and asks: ]

Hey, how do you fold this part again?


iv. 8/8 tanabata - uchiage hanabi plays in the background

[ It's also his first time seeing fireworks up close too. He looks up at the sky, with every explosion, he feels it resound in his body. It's also packed with people who gathered around to watch it too, and he's the only one who smells like cinnamon among the crowd. Feel free to scold him for "using too much cologne" or something.

But other than that, he looks pretty content. ]

I didn't know they could explode into shapes like that... that's so cool.


v. wildcard

[ If you want to tag using a prompt of your own, I'm fine with that too! Since the festival log will be spanning over quite some time, feel free to give me multiple threads if that's your thing. If you also want a dungeon thread that isn't one of those days, I can take that too! For any concerns or questions, please PM me or reach me over at celenza. Thanks! ]

[thetyger]

❱❱❱ 1. ARRIVAL
(backdated prompts circa 7/31-8/2)

- a; castle ruins

[The first thing to come into focus is a half-formed wall with an open window. No, a half-fallen wall and a window where the leaded glass pane is crooked and broken, hanging there while vines creep in. The stone floor he's lying on is hard and uneven. Atsushi sits up with a start when the realization comes; the dream he'd had was not a dream. He'd been at the "office party", and doesn't remember going back to his room, but that's where he should be. Not in these ancient stone ruins. He gets to his feet, his hand brushing against something soft as he pushes himself up off the stone. It's an omamori, very plain. White silk and black stitching; a small crow, his name, and the word Fortune. He shoves it in his pocket.

Having nothing else to go on, Atsushi wanders through the castle ruins, directionless, until he comes across someone.]

Um. H-hello.

- b; forest

[Atsushi has been exploring the forest a little, perhaps venturing too far from the ruins, but he's sure he'll find his way back. The bottom of his shirt has been flipped up to make a sort of pouch, and he's kneeling on the ground in a patch of moss. A stay cat looks on without much interest.

He gathers assorted mushrooms, adding them to the pouch filled with berries and questionably edible things that might be some sort of nuts.]


❱❱❱ 2. CULTURAL FESTIVAL

- a; school play

[Before Atsushi has made it very far into the festival activities, a woman approaches with a handful of thin booklets. He's too polite to interrupt as she goes on and on about the school play. It will be excellent, she insists, but oh, it's sad that several of the students have fallen ill. As she babbles on about the unfortunate things, Atsushi looks over the booklet. It's a listing of the cast and a short, uninformative description of the play. Names have been crossed out in black marker, an unsettling number of them; the ill students. They've been replaced by only two names, indicating the play will mostly consist of five people playing multiple roles.

His eyes widen and he tunes back in to the woman's explanation, worried she's asking for volunteers. Luckily, she just wants to fill the seats, and before he can protest, she's nudging him towards a not-quite-excitable student, who has taken it upon himself to make sure their audience gets to the auditorium on time. Once inside, there's a lot of empty seats, but a few groups of people here and there. Atsushi sits in the back row, in case he needs to run for some reason, leaving a seat between himself and the next person.

The play begins with the lights dimming to a soft, warm yellow. On the stage, a voice rings out:

Yellow, black, yellow, black, yellow, black...
According to all known laws of aviation-

Atsushi has a horrible feeling about this play and slouches down in his seat, whispering to himself, but he can't look away.]

What is this?

- b; haunted house

No, thank you.

[The man is not taking that for an answer. He's intimidating, and has cornered Atsushi in a school hallway, hands against the wall on either side of him and blocking his escape. He leans closer, letting out a creepy laugh and listing all the horrors that await in the haunted house in classroom 7-B. Severed heads that talk! Ghosts of all kinds! Watch out for the skeletons, bones clicking as they stalk their prey! No, no, no.]

R-really, I don't-

[The man smiles, an eerie glint in his eye. Atsushi ducks under the man's arm and runs off down the hallway. He's not at all watching where he's going and rounds the corner, plowing into someone.]

- c; fortune teller

[The crystal ball, the hooded figure, the decorations in the tent. It all should be coming across as tacky, but Atsushi has lived a pretty sheltered life in some respects, and the whole set-up is drawing him in with curiosity. He listens intently- this person knows things.

When the moon's face shines full and bright, at the cusp of night and day, return to the place of beginnings. Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai must be played, to return two lost souls to this world.

What-

[But no, he's done apparently. He repeats the message to himself, as he's directed out of the tent. Wanting to know more, he waits in line again; he has nothing better to do. Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai sounds familiar; he must have read about it somewhere, in one of the books at the orphanage perhaps. He can't recall what it is, though. When it's his turn again, Atsushi enters the tent to find a student with a stack of tarot cards in hand.]

Where's the...?

[He hadn't seen anyone leave, but maybe it was this student all along under the hood. The girl smiles and gestures for him to sit, so he does. Her expression changes as she lays out the tarot cards one by one. A raised eyebrow and a soft "hm". All of the cards are displayed upside-down. She shrugs and gathers them up again, waving him off in favor of the next person.

Atsushi isn't trying a third time. This is all strange and he's had enough. Walking away from the tent, he casually approaches the yakisoba stand. He has no money, but it smells really good. Ugh, he needs a job. When someone else approaches the stand or the tent, he asks a little sheepishly:]

Can I borrow some money?


❱❱❱ 3. TANABATA
(wildcard-ish)

Atsushi spends most of the Tanabata Festival wandering around and observing. Even if he had some extra money, he wouldn't spend it frivolously on festival things for amusement. Not for himself, anyway. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves despite the talk of disappearances. There's a mystery to this place, and he would be a little more proactive about investigating it in some way, if it wasn't so hot. His lack of melanin is a curse at this point and he's finding shade wherever possible to avoid the worst of the sun; though he's already burning a little. Later, he opts to join the crafting activities, namely the paper purses. Because that can't hurt. He makes a few cranes as well, for whatever illness has befallen the town. At the close of the festival, he watches the fireworks from a spot near the lake.

The next morning, however, he's gone to the site of the wildfire. He'd heard whispers of possible arson. Though his detective skills are not the best, he's involved in this strange place now and he may as well look for evidence possibly left behind.]


❱❱❱ 4. ACTUAL WILDCARD
(anything goes, or plot something / pm or plurk: gratisfaction)

[16lab]

I. 8/3 schoolfes - suddenly babysitting

[ RO suddenly has two kids to watch over, and if you've been around Kido some time, you'd recognize who they are--two children less than the age of 10, one boy, one girl, Suzume and Hayato. She's glad that she seems reliable, but she doesn't know how to take care of kids and looks at a loss of what to do as the two kids are looking excited and pretty much dragging her everywhere. Help. ]

ii. 8/4 schoolfes - why is more fire necessary

[ RO has a batch of sweet potatoes in a small disposable basket and is offering them to passerby because she realized she grabbed too many and that's enough rations for her. ]

Would you like one?

[ The towel that she's sitting on also looks pretty comfortable and it's way away from the fire. ]

iii. 8/6 tanabata - if found, return to gun

[ There's someone who looks like RO but looks absolutely blank, as if she caught the Apathy Syndrome. She's merely walking around aimlessly in the festival, looking around and... that's pretty much it. The crowd is pretty big and she manages to bump into someone, but she only passes by without a word after seemingly collecting herself. ]


iv. 8/8 tanabata - lost again

[ This has happened before, but every time it happens, she feels like she's going to lose her mind. She couldn't be losing her touch, right? It's only been several weeks. RO is frantically looking through the crowds, grabs your shoulder, and spins you around. ]

Have you seen my dummy?

[ why. ]

v. wildcard

[ As usual, if we planned something else or if you want to play with your own prompt, I'm fine with it! I can also do dungeon threads too with multiple threads. Hit me up. ]

[crimess]

i. arrival; backdated to 7/25-8/2

a. castle ruins
[ It takes Mae a while to realize that this isn't one of her many vivid dreams—the castle walls are cold and rough, the wind is blowing right into her face, and it most certainly hurts when a tiny rock lands on her head because some crow wanted to be funny. It takes her approximately five minutes to make a very important decision: ]

This place is so cool. I'm making this my summer house.

[ She should figure out how to get back to Possum Springs, but it shouldn't hurt to examine the place further. Eventually, she finds a room with a sizeable stone chair which might have been a throne of sorts. Even if it wasn't, it is now. Mae makes herself comfortable and sits sideways, her legs dangling. ]

I can't believe that people would kill to sit in a fancy chair. It shouldn't be reserved just to important people, anyway.

[ Just some food for thought. ]

b. town
[ Forest was pretty awesome and she'll definitely go back there, but some civilization is also nice. Civilization might answer where she actually is and how to get back home. It also might have some free food waiting for her out there, and Mae's gotten hungry after all that castle exploring. Sitting on fancy chairs is very exhausting, it seems.

The school is her first stop—the students seem really nice and explain everything to her while giving her pets. That last part skeeves her a little because she values her personal space, but this isn't a bad price for information. However, one of the guys is much more friendly than the rest and keeps saying something wanting a cat since forever and inviting her over. ]

Duuude, stop. That's not how you hit on a girl. I'm not going anywhere with you.

[ That guy just wanted to adopt a cat...a talking cat wearing a T-shirt, pants, and shoes. ]

ii. school festival;

a. food stalls
[ There's no way Mae can memorize all these great snacks—this is a whole new world and even though she feels like she's betraying tacos and pizza, the remorse is gone after she has three yakitori sticks in the span of two minutes. ]

I'd commit crimes for this. [ She'd commit crimes even without this. The nearest person to her will be asked a very important question: ] What else should I eat?

b. fortune-teller
This is so cool.

[ Mae steps inside the tent. The fortune-teller has a hood, a crystal ball, and some cards so they must be legit. With her eyes fixed on the crystal ball (shiny...), the important message gets over her head. ]

Can you repeat that long ass name again? [ In response, she's kicked out and can't get back in. ] Hey, I know what whisper marketing is! And I'm soooo gonna whisper mean stuff about you!

iii. tanabata;

a. fun and games
[ Mae didn't bother with the fancy outfits for the festival—she's wearing her usual clothes while she throws herself into the world of festival games. It turns out that she's great at scooping goldfish and yo-yos. One of the prizes happens to be a mask featuring some cute cat mascot character, no less. Mae takes it even if it's not quite her style, but she thinks that wearing them on the side of the head looks cool. ]

I can win this for you if you get me some food.

[ Some people are here for the fun, some are for the prizes. She definitely can appeal to the latter group. ]

b. make a wish
[ Watching all these people make paper cranes and other stuff while eating the shaved ice with syrup leaves Mae feeling creative herself despite the heat. She grabs a few tanzaku for herself after listening what they're for. If there's a "one paper string per person" rule, she's going to ignore it and probably risk being called out on it. Well, whatever. She has a bunch of wishes to make. All of them have little scribbles on them. ]

Maybe gods here aren't some assholes and will grant these.

iv. wildcard;
[ if you want to thread out something else, go for it! you can find me at koohii in case you'd like to plot beforehand! ]

Re: Mod Questions

[not_that_sasuke]

You know what, let's get some spying on after all. If Kurou hangs around the attendees at the school festival and then at the tanabata festival, would he see or overhear anything interesting? Rumors, gossip, plot, the kitty's on the lookout!

2b

[overstrain]

[ When Atsushi runs into someone, it's Terry. And Terry had been looking for some unfortunate victim to go to the haunted house with, so... ]

Oh hey, you'd be perfect! Let's go!

[ Go? Go where? Terry grabs his hand and pulls Atsushi to the haunted house, that's where. ]

[reveilation]

i. 8/3, school, early morning
[ Festivals really are better when you go around with other people, but there is just so many people here that Kido's very easily overwhelmed by it all. In such narrow hallways, she can't even erase her presence without being accidentally running into somebody five seconds later and making herself visible again, and as much as she wants to turn around and go home, she can't disappoint this tiny four-year-old girl who's got one hand wrapped around Kido's fingertips and dragging her down the hall.

"Hurry! Hurry! We're late!!" the girl cries, trotting forward as fast as she can, while Kido's longer legs covers the same distance in a single step. ]

We've still got fifteen minutes before the show, Suzume... Slow down, or you'll trip.

[ It's the elementary school building that they're headed off to, to the auditorium hosting short plays put on by the elementary schoolers. The first grade class is up first, followed by the subsequent grades, but Suzume's brother, Hayato, is part of the first grade class and runs up to them the moment he spots them. In near tears.

"Hana-chan's sick! Emi-chan too! What- what do we do?!" He clings to the front of Kido's jacket in desperation, wet eyes begging her to magically solve the problem. Alright. She can do that. All she needs is to look around and find people she knows^*, pin them down with a death glare, and motion for them to come over. You're being volunteered.

^*Terry is also technically maybe here, but Kido is too busy being mad at him to even look his way. ]

ii. 8/4, school, late afternoon
[ The school library isn't really the place to be when there's no booths set up inside and no displays at all adorning the walls above the bookshelf, but that's exactly why Kido comes here. It's quiet, and empty, and the unspoken library rule of "No Talking" still stands. It's very weird being here when she isn't a student, but even if she's not allowed to take any of the books home, she can still use them while in the library, so it's with a stack of books she sets on an empty table beside her, a pencil and several papers neatly stacked in front, and earbuds firmly plugged into her ears with the music turned up loud enough that electric guitar is faintly audible in what's otherwise silence.

The open book closest to her, she's glaring intensely at, as if it has wronged her somehow and she's trying to set it ablaze with just her stare. From the size of the book and the way the text is laid out, it's easy to tell from a glance that it's a standard English to Japanese dictionary. The titles on the spines of the other books suggest several recipe books, one on wild plants, another on mountains, and... a D&D Dungeon Master's Guidebook. There's also a book on the occult on the other end of the table that's been set face down, so it's hard to tell whether somebody had accidentally left it there or if Kido slid it as far away as she can so she doesn't have to deal with it until last. ]

iii. 8/6-8/8, tanabata, evening
[ The Tanabata festival is a little easier to deal with, for Kido, but it's also terrible because while the school is air conditioned, being outside is hell when the air is as hot and dry as an oven, relentless even after the sun goes down. It doesn't make much difference with her hair tied up in a ponytail, especially because she's still stubbornly wearing her purple jacket she's never seen without, and so she's forced to keep her Persona out and draped over her shoulders like some sort of ghostly shawl. Curiously, none of the villagers seem to see the Persona at all, their shoulders or hands passing right through it if they accidentally come to close, as if it were really just a ghost.

In the space around her, barely a meter's distance from all sides, the air is strangely cooler— still warm, but at least not sweltering- and the Persona occasionally opens its mouth to yawn, little ice crystals appearing in the air surrounding Kido like she'd just walked in from a snow storm. It makes the summer heat a little more bearable, especially when the wind picks up a little. Come here for your portable AC needs. ]

iv. 8/6, tanabata, night
[ The townspeople aren't the only ones warning people away from the water when people start to gather to watch the decorations get lit and sent off to the middle of the lake. She doesn't really care about other people, but those who she's seen around the castle ruins or inside the dungeon and knows to be Persona users, she marches forward and yanks them away from the lake regardless of whether she's ever even talked to them before. ]

Don't get too close to the water! Didn't you hear what people are saying about the lake? Maybe this is why people are disappearing.

[ Maybe nobody in the village can swim!! It's not impossible, seeing as nobody touches the lake, but the disappearances have been too steady, too many. Still, it's the only lead Kido's come across, even after a month of trying to find a reason for all the spooky things that happen in the village. ]

wc.
[ I'm at birdseed for anything you need! ]

8/7 - tanabata date

[rabbeats]

[ As promised (?), Hibiki will be waiting at their meeting spot near the lakefront while fanning himself with an uchiwa he got sometime earlier—it's so hot and he's so hungry, yet he seems to be in a good mood. His hoodie stayed at home (wherever it is) as he decided to wear a yukata for the ocassion. As soon as she spots RO, he raises his arm up high and waves at her. ]

Over here!

[ He's going to teach RO how to chill or his name isn't Hibiki Kuze. Mission start! ]

iv

[rabbeats]

[ It's nice to see Terry all over the place rather than in the hospital. Hibiki joins him to watch fireworks and realizes that Terry smells like cinnamon again. ]

Terry, this is an intervention. [ There's no need to beat around the bush. ] Are you bathing in cinnamon sticks or what?

[ And then, Hibiki spots fireworks shaped to resemble a cat and points his finger at it. ]

Cats, of course.

[ He's amused more than anything. ]

[16lab]

[ RO is pretty well off at this point that she can afford to spend money on luxury items, such as renting something that looks like a traditional wear. She's also holding something like a hand fan, not that it would do much for her android systems anyway.

She makes her way over to where Hibiki is once she finds him. ]

Was this really necessary...?

[overstrain]

I'm basically made of cinnamon at this point. [ ughhhh. He doesn't like it, but it's just something he's gotta deal with now and forever. ]

Making anything shaped fireworks must have been super hard... they really worked a lot to make this festival happen, didn't they?

[thetyger]

Perfect for wh-

[And there they go, right back where he came from. As they get closer to the entrace, he tries to pull his hand out of Terry's grasp.]

Wait, this is- can we do something else?

[He should have stayed in the castle.]

i.........

[overstrain]

[ y u so mad kido

Anyway, Terry watches the whole thing unfold, since he's been with them this entire time. He pets Hayato's head in an effort to calm him down. Maybe it helps that he smells like cinnamon always and forever?? ]

Can't they just... improv or something?

[overstrain]

[ Atsushi could have, but he's here, and now he's about to seal his fate. Terry has a firm grip on Atsushi's hand though, and he's not exactly weak either. rip. ]

Don't you want some excitement in your life?

[ He's starting to sound like some adrenaline junkie, but this is fine. It's fine.

In they go!! ]

iii. 8/6 tanabata - if found, return to gun

[thetyger]

[He collides with someone, and though it was her fault, he apologizes.]

I'm sorry. I-

[She's already walking away, expressionless and like she'd barely noticed. After a moment's hesitation, Atsushi follows after her. She's easy to catch up to as it appears she has no direction in mind.]

Um, are you okay? Miss?

Re: Mod Questions

[overstrain]

Since it's plot related, I assume it won't work, but Terry can't extract info about what the fortune teller's words mean, right? Like what does the long name even mean. If it doesn't work, he'll go asking around townspeople himself!

[16lab]

[ She doesn't seem to react much, other than giving him a glance when asked, but doesn't say much after that. In fact, she just kinda takes a yakitori stick from a stall and eats at it without... paying for it... then she holds out the stick to Atsushi with a piece left on it as if asking if he wants the last piece on the stick. ]

ii. 8/4, school, late afternoon

[thetyger]

[After receiving the message from the fortune teller, Atsushi's gone to the library. He's not certain where he's heard the phrase before, or what it refers to, but that what's the stack of books is for. A couple on different periods in Japanese history, and one on folktales. He approaches Kido and stands there for a couple of seconds, debating whether it's more rude to interrupt her or to sit down without asking. He goes for the former.]

Excuse me. Are you using that table?

[She's obviously using it; there are books.]

ii

[16lab]

[ Oh, just what she needs to see, a book on the occult. She's taken notice that the newly opened occult shop has been buying item drops, so she's been trying to actively research on that as well. Whether she'll find any link is questionable, but it's something she can do in the daytime when she's not as busy.

On the same desk, she finds Kido while picking up the occult book, assuming that since it's so far away, someone must have left it there without intent to pick it back up. She sits across from Kido without a word. That music sure is loud... but she won't say anything since she's pretty sure Kido won't hear her anyway. So she opens the book, skims through the table of contents, and is about to read too, but the librarian is passing by, standing behind Kido with a scary look on her face.

...

RO isn't sure what to do in this kind of situation. ]

2a

[rabbeats]

[ Before he knew it, Hibiki was one of the people politely asked to take a seat and watch the play. Well, he can't imagine it taking too long, so he doesn't try to come up with any excuses and picks a seat next to Atsushi. The play is about to start, so they don't have much time to talk, but after the first two lines of this play, Hibiki feels like there's only one appropriate answer to his question: ]

Our demise.

[ This joke might not fly... ]

[thetyger]

[He absolutely does not need any more excitement.]

N-no, I-

[After that, he gives up and allows himself to be dragged along. It's fine. This is fine. The room is dark, and he's now grateful for Terry's hand. It's a classroom, he tells himself. A classroom, and a student-run haunted house, and it can't possibly be that bad.]

[thetyger]

[It's stealing, but he's hungry and she's already taken it and eaten most of it, so it's not that big of a deal. He takes the stick and gnaws on the last piece of yakitori.]

Are you sick?

[He doesn't expect a reaction to that either, but he feels a little obligated to hang around. Someone could take advantage of her while she's ill, or drunk, or whatever's going on.]

[thetyger]

[He's inclined to agree with Hibiki's assessment as the play continues.]

It's awful.

[The bee costumes are also very shoddy, and appear to be yellow t-shirts with black tape stripes.]