[OPEN] FLOWER FESTIVAL

[cordibus]

Who: Open Log (All)
Where: Point-à-Tarte
Summary: A festival of flowers.
Warnings: N/A

" Ah... the Festival of Flowers while a dreadful deadline looms! Enjoy what normal life you may have left...soon you may long for the return of these simpler times..."

A week of celebration (General Prompt)

At Point-à-Tarte, at the edge of the largest park in Eddan, booths that have been worked on for the past week are finally being opened to the public. Colorful banners decorate every single tree and and even the dullest of areas are covered up in the most creative of ways.

The booths themselves have everything one could hope in a flower festival, from mountains of flower crowns and necklaces being given to every resident of Eddan for free to the flower-shaped candy to the city-approved businesses touting the latest and greatest of the upcoming flower technology. New flowers, some supposedly glowing under UV light and others made to look like galaxies, are being sold at eye-popping prices.

The food, as always, is delicious and fresh, with early spring greens and even flowers themselves being added to salads. The only negative to the entire festival (if one can call it that) are the giant counters displaying the remaining time before sunset that serve as a reminder of Eddan's strange nature.

Opening Ceremonies (Special Prompt)

Sunday's opening sees the release of over ten thousand 'floating' seeds into the wind, a promise from the city to continue to make Eddan the greenest city in the entire world. Each person coming to the festival is given tulip bulbs in a variety of colors to be taken home.

The mayor takes time to speak about the recent string of murders and assures the people that they city shall continue to be vigilant to make sure that its citizens are kept safe. This is greeted with cheers from most of the population. Even the rainy weather doesn't keep such a happy day down!

An hour before sunset, the opening ceremonies close with a fireworks show. Due to the fact that they must be released only during the day, the explosive components have been changed as to give the night varieties a run for their money.

As the bright lights fill the sky, those soon-to-be-Awakened may have a flash of a memory from their past lives, such as a happy moment they spent with someone close to them or a moment of glory. This will soon be drowned out by ringing in their ears. For a few, brief seconds, they may notice figures close by glow oddly, their forms becoming distorted, but before they realize what has happened, blinking returns their vision to normal.

The headache, however, lingers until bedtime.

Weekly contest (week prompts)

Royal Mount opens its WonderWorld Park to the public on Monday. For its opening week during the festival, the rides are all free.

Green Valley Organizes a flower judging contest for the various schools on Wednesday. Students are asked to present their most beautiful and unique flowers. Flower arrangements are also judged and with prizes evaluated at over 20 000 Macca, the stakes are high!

Eastmount offers rides in flower-shaped carriages driven by mechanical horses that could almost pass off as the real thing. (Though it is only the latest technology, thus keeping the entire thing animal cruelty free!)

The Giant Float Parade on Friday afternoon travels around the vast forest of Point-à-Tarte. Each school has been encouraged to enter its cheerleaders and theater productions into the parade. The Flower King and Queen greet visitors at the very end, throwing little presents for the children.

The festival continues until Saturday Nightfall. The schools visit the festival in turn, sometimes for education courses about the various flowers and trees that dot Eddan's landscape, sometimes to show off flower and plant-based sculptures that the various clubs have worked hard on.

Comments

Gardening Club Mingle (OTA)

[probablynoteren]

[Welcome to the Green Valley Gardening Club! This general-purpose top level is here to meet all your gardening and, ahem, admiring needs.

Throughout the week, there will be a well-appointed and relatively large booth section for the GVGC near the center of the festival: despite its lowkey status on campus, the organization is pretty well-funded thanks to all of Eddan's green-leaning initiatives, and members hail from all grade levels and beyond -- some alumni turn up to help with activities as well. There's a small topiary section with creative plant sculptures, a miniature butterfly exhibit containing a glimpse of the caterpillars, cocoons and mature butterflies housed on-campus, and perhaps best of all, a chic little floral drink cafe staffed by club members serving the public in refreshingly colored spring uniform.

Wednesday sees a flurry of activity and a slightly reduced booth staff as club members scurry to prepare their prized contest entries for judging. It's likely a little chaotic in the back, so don't mind fraying tempers, flying dirt and other unmentionables, and the occasional tearful member who just can't take the pressure. If you can get past all that, the flowers are quite beautiful, and also guarded with their lives.

Friday brings the theater club into the gardening area to collaborate on the creation of the Green Valley float, which takes many of its materials from the campus greenhouses and its design from campus creatives (there was probably a voting contest or something to determine this). Don't mind them practicing their poses. And watch for falling flowerpots...!]

[OOC: Open to all club members and the general public too, of course! Come have a drink, ogle our more popular club members, or play with butterflies, be our guest. Feel free to also bring any wildcard options if you don't see what you want in the existing prompts. ☆]

Ciro Bonavita (Chikusa Kakimoto) - OTA

[kokuyoyo]

A - Throughout the week

[Anyone passing by the GVGC set up will find themselves approached by a very well dressed Ciro, lanky body filling out the server uniform quite well. He's a bit nervous, but.... Still, he tries to smile a bit.]

Can I interest you in a refreshing drink at our cafe today?

B - Wednesday

[Ciro's flower display isn't the most complex thing at the contest- people really go all out for these things- but it is a little more than some people might be expecting. It appears to be some sort of misting system set up overhead.... Early on, he's still carefully putting it together, and he calls to whoever happens to pass by.]

Ah- could you handle me that part over there if you're not too busy?

[Later on, when he's done and everyone's entries are allowed to be seen to the common public before judging, Ciro stands at his display quietly. The simple white flowers that have been arranged don't seem like much.... but only on one half of the display. On the other half, the mister is on, revealing how the pure white petals turn utterly transparent. Anyone who pauses to take a look is treated to a nervous smile by the teen.]

Diphylleia grayi.... But a lot of people have dubbed it the skeleton flower.

[He's not really expecting to win with it- the contest is filled with flowers that are all much flashier than it. But.... He likes this type.]

C - Friday

[After shedding the outer layer of his server uniform and rolling up his sleeves, Ciro has been rushing to help out with the float on his break. No rest for the wicked! Or GVGC members... He's in the middle of arranging some flowers on the float, making sure nothing is out of order, and perks up desperately when he sees someone approaching.]

[Are you just random student investigating? Or called to help by a friend? Actually a relevant club member? Doesn't matter, Ciro can't be assed to tell the difference right now, he is very stressed]

Are you with the theater club?

C

[draculabackwards]

No, I've been roped in to help with the floats so if you need me, just point me in the right direction. [This is what happens when apparently according to his history teachers, it looked like he didn't already have enough to do with schoolwork.]

[kokuyoyo]

[There are a lot of questions here, but Ciro doesn't care about any of them. He has something to do and, god dammit, he's going to do it. He wipes some sweat away from his forehead.]

I need a ladder, a rope, and anything that can be used as a hook.

[Those are sure some instructions.]

[draculabackwards]

[Those are indeed instructions and Adrian does his best to comply in the piles of supplies, flowers and float equipment everywhere. He's strong enough that he can easily carry a ladder with one arm. He also starts grumbling to himself, loud enough for Ciro to hear.]

Of course they give me all the work so they can go try to monopolize Xane Daimon's time.

[kokuyoyo]

[At least Ciro has the decency to hop down from the float when he sees Adrian coming over with everything, aiming to help. Of course, coming closer makes it all the easier to overhear what the other says, and Ciro freezes.]

Xane Daimon's here?

[draculabackwards]

[Adrian sets the supplies down gently before answering the question with surprise.] I'm not entirely sure he is. Just that some people swore he was wandering around the festival and they dumped me with all the work.

Why, are you a fan of his movies?

C

[beastfang]

[If Ciro was expecting an actual verbal answer right away he's going to be in for a small weight, because Christopher just carefully drops the box of cut flowers he has next to Ciro. He wasn't even sure how he somehow got roped into this. He had been putting a cart away when he suddenly had a box of brightly colored flowers shoved into his arms and directed towards the general area where the float was being set up.

There may or may not be a couple of unopened bottles of water in there as well, because he technically was supposed to be on a water run for the float volunteers when he got shanghai'd into this and thus one held out to Ciro.]

Unless they're kidnapping random people to bulk up their ranks, no. I can at least be used as a prop or for simple manual labor if needed.

[kokuyoyo]

[....Oh whups. Realizing what's happened, Ciro looks sheepish.]

[Just not sheepish to turn him away, however.]

Then, if you don't mind, I'm filling in the gaps between the flowers with ones of similar type and color... It's only been me for a few minutes now.

[So, yes, he will take that water bottle to quickly take a drink before getting back to work, thank you.]

[beastfang]

Seems simple enough of a task.

[There's only a slight shrug before Ciro has someone in his general area and rummaging through the boxes to find the right ones. What is this system who decided to mix flowers together? Who let a drama student do the packing?]

Or not as simple if whoever is sending you these boxes is as colorblind as it seems.

[kokuyoyo]

[Welcome to festival hell. Ciro goes a little dead eyed before he takes a deep breath and gets control of himself.]

We've been in a hurry... And we've had to rely on a lot of temporary volunteers.

Do you need help, or are you sure you have it covered?

B's in business ~ :3c

[probablynoteren]

[That Haruka's wandering this part of the contest display's back end isn't surprising -- after all, most of the gardening club with its students of all cycles puts in serious entries every year -- and he's already heading Ciro's way before the call for help comes. He likes to appreciate the other entries at his leisure before the real bulk of the public crowd comes in, and make sure club members are doing well in the meantime.

So, after pausing to pick up the part Ciro's gesturing to, he comes the rest of the way over to aid and admire at once. He knows the secret behind the small flowers, of course, and lingers to watch the set up once he hands over the requested component. They've already spent long, relatively peaceful hours together with Ciro fussing over this particular plant, but seeing it out on display is somehow different.]

It's come pretty far, hasn't it? Since you seeded it.

[Haruka's smiling a little as he shifts to peer at the blooms from another angle. He'll stay until the mister is on, but for the moment he's patient, and on hand for whatever other things Ciro might need. The setup is a little more involved than either of them are used to, especially for an event of this scope.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Taking the part, he's slightly preoccupied as he puts it into place- in fact, he's not even really conscious of who just handed him it. Instead, he's focused on what's in front of him, brow furrowed. It's only when Haruka speaks up that Ciro blinks out of it, glancing over to him before smiling sheepishly.]

It's blossomed really well.... I didn't think it would get to this state, but the greenhouse has been good to it.

[Turning back to the misting system, he tries to talk as he works.]

I doubt it will draw a whole lot of attention, but that's fine.

[probablynoteren]

[Haruka gives a small hum in response, both affirming and considering Ciro's self-deprecating remarks -- it's the way Ciro is, though he's largely acquainted with him by way of the greenhouse and both wearing way too much of Eddan's dirt on their persons despite being relatively neat otherwise. To Haruka, though, only knowing people through the club isn't necessarily a bad thing.

You can tell a lot about someone, by way of hours at a time spent digging holes together, and the choices they make in places like this.]

Not just the greenhouse. [his response is measured, unobtrusive, the compliment left implied; it's self-evident to him that their work isn't just about how high-tech their greenhouses are] It's a good choice. People like this kind of thing at flower shows.

[kokuyoyo]

Do you think so?

[Well, if Haruka says so, then he really must think it. That's the kind of person he is, Ciro has come to learn, although he'd never say he's an expert about other people. He clicks a part of the mister into place.]

Well... Hopefully. If it doesn't rain this week, then the effect I'm going for should hold up...

You didn't register anything this year, right?

[probablynoteren]

[Sometimes he may be a little too blunt, but for the most part Haruka says what he means, when he bothers to say anything at all. When it's just the two of them in the greenhouse -- they both tend to be there a bit too much, probably -- they can work long stretches in silence because words aren't going to make the plants grow faster.

(Unless you subscribe to talking or singing to your plants, which some of the club does, at that)

He ducks out for a moment to check the sky and his phone for the two-part weather forecast. At length:]

It looks clear for today, and the forecast is good. The festival should have something set up, for rainy days. [even if some activities would need to be canceled or moved around should the skies open up, the flower displays are carefully tended; he watches a little while longer before speaking up again] Oh. My registration was a little late. I couldn't decide.

[And the particular plant he'd picked needed slightly more careful handling and placement to ensure it both came along well and didn't interfere with activity in the rest of the greenhouse. They get a lot of rubberneckers and actual tourists around this season, though most of them go to the main greenhouse rather than the lower cycle's traditional, smaller one.]

Haruka Sorazawa (Lenka Utsugi) (OTA)

[probablynoteren]

1. Wash It Down with Flower Crowns

[Things have settled a little since the morning -- putting out various fires (sometimes literally) as everyone scrambled to put together the cafe, cram drink recipes, sneak the requisite staff-wide morning caffeine, and then somehow make it into their uniforms in between all of the other necessary setup -- but it's some time into the cafe's operating hours before Lenka finally gets dragged out from behind the counter to greet the customers proper.

He looks a little like he came through a hurricane, but that's the normal state of his hair anyway; it also means a perfect perch for the bright and distinctly lopsided flower crown someone's pushed on him. There's another circlet of flowers hanging around one of his elbows, so it's entirely possible that he escaped with minimum possible casualties to his dignity. For the moment.

He looks stiff and a little awkward in the light colors of the suit and tie (carefully straightened) as he goes around taking orders and clearing tables, but it seems more a function of the way the flower crown keeps sliding down into his eyes. Every time, he sneaks a glance back at the counter of the cafe in what looks like an entreaty for help, to absolutely no avail.

As he passes your table, he may nevertheless try his best to smile a little and look less forbidding than his eyebrows naturally make him look -- it's also possible some flower petals end up in your tea, but what else would you expect at a flower festival -- and perhaps make a quiet inquiry or two...]

... and that's the specials for today. Was there something you needed?

2. I'm Too Lazy to Make an Extra Toplevel So This is Fireworks, My Bad

[By the time the fireworks show rolls around, Haruka has been running around the festival at his various duties since sunrise and is just about ready to go home; he does stick around for the daytime show, though, because fireworks are rare enough the rest of the year due to curfew restrictions that he'll enjoy them when he can. He is yawning plenty as the crowd gathers, tulip bulbs from earlier in the day tucked safely in his pocket along with his gardening gloves, and thinking idly about whether he can just slink away straight after or whether he'll need to let some friends and club members know he's slinking away before they think he's fallen into the campus pond or something.

(Not that that's ever happened at an event or anything.)

The first firework sings into the sky, a flower of fire spreading with a muffled BOOM that will never quite be as dramatic or as bright as pyrotechnics in the deep night sky. Three more go up--

--ten, twenty, the number of enemies is countless as the flares blanket them. They spread across the sky like night falling, a dark curtain of definitely-not-butterflies in brilliant green and blue. From where he stands, hands set loosely upon his God Arc, he can see the whites of their eyes and hear the mass, restless chittering and chattering of them talking to one another. His job is to stop them from coordinating their attack, a near-impossible task even with two weapons in one.

A man in a trenchcoat and a girl in chic black and red, her soft hat a beacon in the high winds; he's peripherally aware of them as he prowls the top of the aerial transport, and viscerally aware of how dangerous and how reliable they are -- it's hard to breathe this high up, and the smallest wrong step will plunge him thousands of feet to the earth or into one of those chattering, toothy maws, but somehow it's exhilarating more than anything else.

Each step reverberates up his legs, clear and decisive. He breathes, moves, and then he can't quite stop.

His hands and feet move like they have a mind of their own, wrestling with the unfamiliar triggers and parts of his God Arc -- he loses of track of his own movements between one blink and the next, shoot, slash, shield, fly. He's racing against time, against the monsters, against the girl -- and it's beautiful and horrible at once, knowing he's enjoying the blood and guts raining down around his weapon and the bite of blade into flesh. He can feel himself getting stronger, faster and faster, a meteor of destruction across the sky who very nearly forgets what's down below or that there is a below at all.

The last of the fireworks crackle and flare across the sky and Haruka jumps, stumbling backwards a little. He's shaking with adrenaline and breathing hard and not at all sleepy anymore, and finally he ends up just sitting down hard on the ground where he was standing.]

3. Bittersweet Blooms Bode Best

[Things are a controlled sort of chaos both in the section of the gardening club pavilion where contestants are preparing and the actual contest pavilion where a ridiculous number of flowers of all sizes, colors, shapes, and diets have taken over to the point where it's actually hard to find the contestants in them. Anyone venturing in won't escape without some leaves, dirt or flower petals in their hair. Or flower crowns. Flower crowns are always with you.

Near the back, carefully tucked in a sort of alcove and kept a bit apart from the others, there's an entry that consists of a crafted trellis that looks rather like a starry night over a cityscape silhouette. It's roughly shaped but solid, and a unique sort of bloom is draped across it, striking deep purple flowers and the rare scarlet berry peeking out from between the leaves. The plant is taller than most people at the festival, and certainly towers over its master, who is crouched over its large pot and cleaning it out with gloved hands.

Or rather: he's cleaning it out and putting up a fairly large sign that blares DO NOT EAT in spiky red letters. Just in case you were thinking of munching on a leaf or something. If you get close enough for him to notice, Haruka will give you a small wave.]

Be careful. It's beautiful, but poisonous.

2

[onlythankyou]

[Lonán isn't the kind of guy who cringes at the thought of wearing a flower crown, and thus he's ended up with the further indignity of not two, but three. Three is a little ridiculous. But...it's the flower festival, everyone's having a good time, so he can deal with looking ridiculous outside of Command Tower games.

But it's been a long day of looking ridiculous and having fun, he's been all over the place and the fireworks heralding the end of the first day are more than welcome. It's eventful. By the time he's recovered himself, the crowd is starting to thin, and there's Haruka sitting on the ground. Uh oh.]

Haruka... Hey, you okay? [He kneels by him.]

[probablynoteren]

[For a moment, Haruka doesn't register Lonán's presence next to him, the time of day or the crowd -- his perception is still lingering behind in the not-quite-a-memory, buffeted by wind and the scent and sensation of metal, blood in the air and the taste of dawning victory in his mouth. Then someone near them coughs, and suddenly all he tastes is iron, the sensation of something living caving in under his hands and the too-familiar memory of teeth about the size of his face--

He has to clap a hand to his mouth until the sudden nausea passes, gritting his teeth and shaking his head to banish everything for the moment. The chilling evening air helps, and the realization that he is in fact on the ground and someone is next to him. And he is also still in the middle of a group of people, which gets Haruka to pull himself back together and back to focusing on reality.

Still, he blinks in surprise at Lonán, because he doesn't remember seeing him earlier.]

I'm... okay. [and he is now, it's harder to literally fly off the handle when he has at least one fistful of dirt from gripping the ground helpfully] It's been a long day, I think.

[onlythankyou]

[Yeah, no. Obvious nausea isn't something that can just be brushed off like that and give Lonán any inclination to believe it. Especially after watching him topple backward like that. Still...it's a festival, outside, with a lot going on. It's not the most precise situation to manage at the best of times. Maybe Haruka ate something bad.]

First of seven. Are you sure you're not feeling sick?

[It also helps distract him from....whatever that vision was. At least it wasn't murder this time.]

[probablynoteren]

... Yeah, it's just the first day.

[Were he someone else, Haruka would at least attempt to smile or laugh it off, maybe casually turn the topic onto other things. And maybe he'd be up to his own brand of reassurances if he weren't still too busy processing the fact that he's gone from fighting flying eyeballs on a plane back to a mundane festival on the ground.

Lonán's words at least get him a little more focused; everything's still a bit shaky, but he can dust himself off and get to his feet again, anchoring himself a little more with each brisk movement. First, he checks on the tulips to make sure they haven't been crushed -- priorities. Then he stops to think for a moment.]

Maybe I didn't get enough sleep? [it's as much an excuse as it is an actual muttered thought to himself; some particular phone problems are to blame for that issue, but it's easy to gloss over] I'll just go to bed earlier. Sorry.

[--that's directed at Lonán. He'd been planning to head home as early as he could, anyway, but this complicates things a bit.]

3

[prayed]

"Be careful...?" I don't think it bites, y'know.

[Kyoko waves of the warning as she approaches, sizing the tree up. It looks roughly like any other plant; certainly not one that she expects to bare fangs and start pouncing people anytime soon and it seems relatively unlikely that anyone would find a way to hurt themselves on it. Then again, one of her mother's many favored phrases had been that "common sense is not so common," so perhaps somebody might start tampering with and chomping on bits of it.

Either way, she can't deny being a little curious,]

So what is it?

[probablynoteren]

No. It's not that kind of plant.

[... is what he apparently felt the need to clarify, first of all. Is he serious about it? He's certainly explaining it with an absolutely straight face, but those who know him would know that's his face all the time, so the jury is out.

Haruka hasn't yet encountered anyone trying to eat any of his plants, but then again he doesn't usually cultivate ones with blooms and berries at the same time; this particular specimen is striking in both aspects, though. It would have been a waste not to take the challenge. That being said, in the long history of the festival there's definitely been tales of people mistaking contest entries for salad. People will be people.]

It's bittersweet nightshade. Different from deadly nightshade. [something that he always has to clarify, as he finishes fixing the sign and steps aside a little so she can see it up close] It is still poisonous, but also used in medicine.

[prayed]

[For a moment Kyoko has to ask herself whether he had seriously considered the idea of killer plants or if perhaps other people had come to him with those concerns one too many time. Certainly, she can't imagine anyone else keeping a straight face at a question lik ethat.

She decides not to think too hard on that question, isntead approaching the tree. She stands on her tip-toes as she look at it up close. It's quite pretty, she has to admit. Still, she cocks her head to one side.]

Tat's kind of weird, isn't it? Using a poison for medicine.

[probablynoteren]

[Haruka has cultivated all manner of plants; most of the ones on school grounds have been safe, for obvious reasons, but the campus greenhouses do have a section for plants that need more careful handling. It's occasionally interesting to venture there, and expand his horizons with things that aren't normally worked with until higher cycles, if at all.

That being said, possibly plants with a literal bite would have been easier to deal with. Everyone loves a pitcher plant, after all. For the record, he's had enough questions about deadly nightshade that that will likely be his next signage project if it keeps going.

For the moment, he still has gloves on, so he can reach out to lift some of the abundant foliage out of the way to show Kyoko the smaller blooms and unripened berries hidden underneath. Little bits of the background trellis wind through, too, like the plant is climbing the night sky.]

It's more normal than you think. [there's a lot he could say about poisons and medicine, but she's likely not here for a history lesson, and Haruka isn't given to lecturing, anyway] They used to use plants like this for almost anything. This one is for scrapes and inflammation. Cancer, too.