[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

John Miles (Jaune Arc) | OTA

[sociallyarcward]

[I. General - Sunday]
After sleeping in unintentionally, John makes his way to the festival. His mom had a food booth here somewhere, since it was unlikely they would get many customers with the festivities. He was supposed to take a shift later this week, but his mom had insisted he enjoy the first few days. He hadn't put up much of an argument, John liked the festival. On his way in he makes sure to grab one of the fliers detailing the locations of most of the attractions, as well as, a list of some of the activities going on. This was going to be a good break after the week he had just had. He also snags a flower crown of blue and orange buds. He's finally starting to feel like himself again...at least a little. Not even the large timers over head can dull his mood and he makes a bee-line for the food area to grab a little early lunch.

[II. Opening Ceremony - Later Sunday
John manages to snag some pretty great seats for the opening ceremony and is more than welcome to let one or two people he recognize join him if he spots them in the crowd. It had been a good day and even the rain had done little to dampen his spirits. He'd needed this and he hadn't even realized. He'd even managed to ignore the app, for the most part, and try to enjoy himself for once. Now his attention was firmly on the fireworks as he enjoyed some of the snacks and drinks he'd picked up along the way. Fireworks weren't quite the same when you could only see them in the daytime -- but he didn't mind it too much as the city tried to make them just as special.
John watches them explode in the sky, mesmerized by the light show, smiling as people laugh around him and react to the show.

The laughter of a girl cuts through everything. He smiles sheepishly because he really can't blame her. After all, it isn't every day you see a tall, lanky blond in a dress. There is still mirth in her voice as she tells him he didn't have to do this (John can only assume he means wearing the dress. Why is he in a DRESS now?).

"Hey. An Arc never goes back on his word. Now do you want to stand there and laugh at me or do you want to dance?"

He offers his hand to her and she accepts, making him smile. He pulls her out onto the floor and is soon joined by two others -- a boy with black hair and a girl with orange hair. This isn't a slow dance like he thought it would be, more of a group dance team. He's not sure how they manage it, but they start dance in sync.

The sound of the music from the memory quickly turns into a ringing sound in his ears. He winces, holding a hand to his ear and knocking over his soda. His head is pounding and now the headache is so bad he's seeing things -- things nearby jumping and twisting in unnatural ways. John shuts his eyes, trying to make it stop and return to normal. The memory fades, as do the visions, and he's left feeling dizzy even while seated. His knuckles are white as he grips the table he'd seated himself at, "What...the hell."

[III. Week Prompts]
On Monday, after recovering from the headache, Jaune can be found checking out the newly opened park after school. True, he won't have much time before he needs to get home for homework and make curfew. But he's doing everything he can to forget yesterday and a few rides and games sound like the way to go -- especially while it's still free.

Tuesday and Wednesday are reserved for working the booth set up for the Blue French Horn cafe. They can't serve everything, so they mainly deal in special flower shaped pastries sprinkled with sugar, sandwiches cut into flower shapes, and cups of gumbo served out of tulip-shaped bread bowls. They'd been prepping this for weeks and maybe they'd attract some new business this way, at least, that was his mom's theory. Unfortunately, due to the time consuming nature of making some of these goods -- once they are sold out they are sold out.

You might catch John around for other festival activities throughout the week and of course he's never adverse to being dragged into something either.

[ooc: If you want to do action instead of prose, I am game. Also if you have something to do with John and DON'T see it listed, let me know and we can do something more open.]

sunday afternoon

[forsteri]

Yoshio has been wandering the festival for a couple of hours himself, and peeking up at the timer above him (it's not even close to time), he decides it's probably about time he finds a snack. He's surprised and not surprised to see John there, and joins the line just behind him. John's pretty nice. Some of Mako's friends he's a little shy of, but not so much John, who has always shown himself to be pretty decent.

"Hi," he pipes up, a small voice from behind him. "You're not working today?" He saw the cafe's booth, naturally.

II Opening Ceremony

[1in_perfection]

There's an answering thud, as someone puts palms down on the table in order to regain her balance. Michelle is swaying on one corner of the table, and looking a touch worse for wear... and with an odd shimmer to her outline that lasts perhaps a blink. There's a VERY nervous expression fixed to her face and stretching her eyes wide; and some sort of shiver working its way into her arms and making the table itself shudder from where she leans against it.

"I..." She has to cough and clear her throat, swaying on her feet the entire time. "I'm sorry; I needed to find something to balance against for a moment, and your table was closest-"

She only gets that far when she gazes up... and stares for second at the strange glow enveloping the stranger. It's only for an instant, but Michelle keeps her eyes fixed on him, in case it happens again.

"...It seems fireworks and I don't mix as well as I'd prefer. Not if they play tricks on the eye and mind in such a way."

III

[draculabackwards]

Trying to forget whatever happened yesterday seems to be on the minds of a few people. Adrian is one of them, trying to determine which ride to go on first. As they're all free, he feels a tad overwhelmed by his choices.

"Oh, hello, John. Taking advantage of the free rides as well?"

I

[kokuyoyo]

It's a good idea to head straight to the food area, because guess what place the GVGC has made their booth particularly close to for this year's Flower Festival? Well, it only makes sense- a fact that John will soon see when he looks towards the source of a voice calling out to him. "Hey, John!"

In a nice little outdoor area, set up of course with a variety of flower decorations and plenty of tables, Ciro waves his hand high above his head. Save for the fact that he clearly looks exhausted like he hadn't slept the night before (spoilers, he hasn't), he manages to fill out the butler uniform they've gotten for everyone well. It almost makes his lanky form look good instead of a side effect from awkward teenage years.

Wednesday

[summerorange]

Trying to get her own work can certainly whip up one's appetite, so Niko finds herself over at the Blue French Horn stand. She can't help but croon at the design of the sandwiches. "Ahhh, they look almost too good to eat~! You guys must have some very talented chefs."

Ciro Bonavita (Chikusa Kakimoto) - OTA

[kokuyoyo]

A - Sunday, Opening Ceremonies

[Throughout the entire day, Ciro hasn't really had a time to just kick back and relax. I mean- are you kidding him? He's a part of the Gardening Club. It's the Festival of Flowers.]

[By the end of the week, it'll be a miracle if he isn't dead.]

[In fact, seated as he watches the last moments of the Opening Ceremony, sipping from a dark drink with rosebuds bobbing in it amongst the ice, he almost looks dead judging by the dark circles under his eyes. The work in the GVGC leading up to this festival has been working him ragged, and... Well. Early this morning had brought something unpleasant. If he's honest with himself, all this work is a relief if only so he doesn't have to think about the events of early morning.]

[So, seated and watching everything dully obedient, Ciro's eyes follow the rise of the fireworks as they burst- ]

[And there it goes. The mansion is entirely in flames. Deep in its depths, panicked and tortured screams start up, but he doesn't really care. As the first licks up towards the sky, his gaze drifts to the side. There, sprawled out in the perfect kept grass of the lavish (but not for long) estate, are the two boys again. The blond, feral sharp teeth bared out in a triumphant grin, pumps his fist. Between them is the boy with the mismatched eyes, and his face is alight with almost as much delight as the mansion has flames.

This is the only time he'll ever look so happy or delighted. And so long as the two of them are happy with all of this- ]

[The trickling sound of liquid breaks through the fire in his minds eye, and Ciro snaps out of it. At some point in his- daydream? hallucination?- he'd started to lose the straightness of his glass. It's been steadily trickling the drink onto the ground, and Ciro hastily straightens it up with a jolt.]

Ah- [He looks to the people near him.] I'm sorry. I didn't get any on you or your things, did I?

[...So he says, but something about it almost sounds robotic, automatic, instead of genuine. His eyes are still elsewhere, just a bit.]

B - Sunday night, School Apartments

[hey everyone, there's a teenage boy facefirst and only half on the sofa in the ground floor common area. One arm and a leg to match are dangling off of the side, sprawled loosely against the floor.]

[Someone should probably make sure this nerd is okay.]

[But listen. He wasn't getting enough sleep to start with, considering the festival. Add in the nonsense on that app early this morning, and, well... No wonder he couldn't wait until getting to his own apartment to fall asleep.]

[Let him live.]

C - Wildcard

[Ciro will have another top level at the GVGC mingle thread which will include him participating at the club booth, the flower judging contest, the float parade, and other such things. Needless to say, for most of the week, he'll be preoccupied with club activities. However! When shifts switch out and he gets a break, anyone can run into him or drag him off for whatever.]

[If you want to harass the nerd in some way outside of his club activities, feel free to spitball it here, or just PM me/ hit me up on my plurk and we can do something.]

[lovelledup]

[Asher reacts to the headache in an obvious way when it strikes, though he lowers his hand from his ear as soon as the ringing stops. Maybe Ciro didn't notice, in exactly the same way that Asher didn't notice Ciro's drink spilling and for a second can't quite even process what that question means.]

Huh?

B

[1in_perfection]

[There... is a certain long suffering sigh to be heard, from someone in the lobby. Not loud enough to wake anyone up, but still enough to convey 'this is hardly becoming of a student.'

Least of all someone she's seen before, in passing, in the library. And as such holds a decent opinion of.

What stops Michelle from prodding him to move into his own room is, well... she may not be in the floral club, but she has had her fair share of surprises this week. And that's extended to a certain degree of sympathy and empathy for similarly exhausted people.]

"I'm not going to tell you to get up. However... wait a moment."

[There's the sound of a some footsteps moving across the floor, fading, and then coming back. Followed by the 'thump' of something getting set on the floor, and the aroma of some sort of left over french onion soup that's been warmed up in a microwave.]

"If you're awake enough... I suggest that you try getting something in your stomach. And perhaps find a better resting spot, to keep the circulation from getting cut off to your hands and feet."

[Apparently though, sympathy can only go so far before she feels compelled to give some advice.]

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?

Michi Yamashita | OTA

[kouteipenguin]

1.

Usually Michi loves celebrations and festivals. There's always something new and interesting to look at; there's absolutely no telling what will happen. He sweeps through initially with his usual enthusiasm, peering through displays of improbable flowers and squinting both at the flowers and the people trying to sell them - 'are you sure these are real? They don't look real.' - to meandering over to investigate the food. This whirlwind stops abruptly as he catches sight of one of the countdown timers.

Something in his mind immediately flashes back to another countdown that's burned into his mind at this point. There's only 13 days left now until the awakening... He freezes entirely, eyes wide as if he's never seen those timers before in his life. Michi's a short kid; 14 and generously described as 5 feet tall; the crowd swirls around him as if he wasn't even there. But in this lively place, he's reverted to a statue, mind a million miles away.

Please don't run into him. Or do.

2.

Michi was late to the ceremony; there's just too many distractions around, and he made it his personal mission to visit every last thing while he still could. This turned out to be a mistake, since he ends up wedged in the middle trending towards the back right behind some people far too tall for him to see around. He ends up standing up to try anyway, figuring he'll look for another place to relocate. Where's a good option...? He'll just start moving before the fireworks start. Everyone will be looking up, so it's his best bet to be unobtrusive-


Even before he notices anything else, he notices that again, his vision is limited.
He's wearing blinders of some kind for the third time in a row, and Michi instantly knows what this has to be.

A giant winged fireball - a phoenix? - rises high above the field. The whole field watches; his whole body aches with bruises that he's barely even feeling at the time. All of his focus is right on the ball as it's carried on wings of flame to slam into the opposing goalkeeper. He stands his ground for a few seconds, but on seeing the massive wall of firebird approaching, ducks to the side for cover at the last second.

"Score reversal!" the announcer screams jubilantly. "Raimon has finally taken the lead!"

And just as the score is announced, the whistle blows.

"And that's the end of the match! The Football Frontier finals goes to Raimon with a dramatic turntable score!"

They all stare at the scoreboard, in shock. It seems impossible. First half ended with a score of 0-3; there had been no way they could possibly fight. But they endured, lead by their captain. And now... the second half ends with a score of 4-0. By one point in an unimaginable turnaround, they had actually won. The shock begins to bleed away into a fierce, jubilant pride. That feeling of victory is overwhelming. It ripples like a shockwave through the whole team as looks of disbelief turn to ones of joy. All around him, his teammates scream as one -



But he can't make out what it was. He can only hear the whole thing fade out into a fierce ringing noise that takes over his whole mind. The world seems strange, for a moment; as if people look wrong, somehow...

But that, too is gone. And Michi realizes belatedly that he's stumbled when the memory took him, having stumbled to the side and ending up on top of someone trying to watch the fireworks.

Week Prompts

Wonderworld park had Michi's full attention at 'free rides'. That's where he spends as much of Saturday as possible (any other days, unfortunately, aren't really viable), trying out literally everything he can. It feels like it's going to take him far longer than he has to manage this, given the unending lines. After standing around staring forward, then fiddling with his phone, looking up occasionally to see if anyone's looking at him, then staring at the sky looking immensely bored. Yes, he is fourteen. Yes, he is unsupervised. Yes, this is a thing that's happening. He finally speaks up, asking no one in particular - "Is it just me, or is the whole population of Eddan here?"


Wildcard

[I will follow whatever style you want to post in, so if you prefer action that's completely fine. Want something else, or another prompt? Hit me up and we'll make it happen!]

2

[forsteri]

His head hurts. Yoshio had climbed down from his spot in between the planters after the fireworks had ceased, thinking maybe it was best he find somewhere he could get a bottle of water before he went home. He wasn't really paying attention to his surroundings -- and so when someone bowls him right over his first thought is 'why wasn't I watching where I was going', rather than wondering why the other person wasn't watching where they were going.

"Oh, sorry --"

He blinks, reaching forward to support the stranger, and then realizes as he's apologizing just who it is that ran into him.

"Michi?"

Christopher Noro (Koujirou Genda) l OTA

[beastfang]

[Sunday Flowery Sunday] (Prompt A)
It wasn't that Christopher didn't like gardening and flowers, considering how many such filled his apartment for home remedies and teas. It was hard to live in a city this green and not at least tolerate growing things. It was mostly that things got so chaotic before and after this festival that made him sigh heavily and debate not going, or only going during the mandated school trips. Yet, it was tradition that if anyone in the Noro house had the time they'd go on Opening Day to look around and collect any samples of plants and herbs they may not have already growing in planter boxes on windowsills and their small balcony.

And with this year it being tulips that were being given away he had promised to go for his mother, as she always was looking for new stock of the slightly expensive plant since she used them for treating minor skin irritations.

Thus someone could likely find the lanky teen carefully placing a...damp sponge in with the package of bulbs given before being placed almost delicately inside of the messenger bag he's wearing. He has a long subway ride home, and there's no point in going home just to drop those off and come back when everything was gearing down.

Though he skirts around and away from the flower crowns. Or attempts to, maybe someone else sees him about to miss that time honor tradition and decides to 'save him' from missing this opportunity. Or not.


[Triumph in Glittering Lights] (Prompt B)

Christopher had actually been heading towards the exit and the closes subway station when the closing ceremony had started. In part to beat the crowds of people scurrying home before curfew and in part because the long trip home was already going to be a chore without adding this crush of people to it.

Yet something made him pause and look up towards the sky after the first boom of the fireworks rumbled in the air, and suddenly things feel...hazy.

It was the smell of metal and turf, somehow mixed with sunlight warmed air mixing with the cool drafts carrying the tang of polish. It was a familiar smell for anyone in Teikoku's soccer club. The mixture of the field with the harsh lines of the school that had likely been part of the entire plan to unsettle opposing teams that would arrive for a match. Yet it was comforting, especially after weeks of antiseptic filled air of hospital rooms and the cold filtered air of Shin Teikoku. Those memories though are pushed to the side as Sakuma, even on a crutch leads the rest of the team out onto the field and towards Raimon working hard.

"Looks like your hard at work, Kidou!"

There wasn't even a waver or hitch as Sakuma had called out to Kidou working with Endou and Domon on Death Zone. That eased more worry in Genda's chest that Sakuma really was going to be alright now.

"You came, Sakuma. Genda! Everyone!"

Genda wouldn't admit that despite half expecting some lingering anger or hurt over what they had done before, the fact Kidou sounded happy to see them had caused a weight to shift and fall away. Even if only briefly, because it was Kidou and they were there to help as they always would be if he needed it.

"You guys!"

Even Endou seemed happy, though Endou rarely allowed himself to be anything but upbeat.

"Kidou, did you call everyone here?"

Though it seemed the other goalkeeper still didn't grasp there was always a reason for everything Kidou did, and bringing the entire Raimon caravan to Teikoku was more then just because a Teikoku move should be learned on a Teikoku field.

"Yeah, it's been a while. Don't worry. I'm recovering steadily."

No one had missed the worried look Kidou had given to Sakuma's crutch during the exchange, and Genda couldn't help but agree with relief over Sakuma's assessment.

"The latest treatment that Raimon's coach recommended is working well."

They really had to be thankful that despite what they had done and how much they had jeopardized by their actions Coach Hitomiko had done so much to make certain his teammate would be able to play soccer once more with them.

There was suddenly so much ringing as the boy in the headband, Endou?, was about to speak again and he was suddenly Christopher and not Genda again.

"What?"

His throat felt constricted and everything seemed blurred and oddly lit as he stumbled back into something. Hands going to cover his face and cradle his head in hopes the darkness of his palms will cure the blurriness and the pressure of fingers digging into his temples to help with the sudden pounding in his head. He hadn't even touched that app since it's last message had appeared. What was going on?


[Wednesday's Child brings Flower Judging.](Prompt C)

After everything that happened on Sunday, Christopher had kept to himself and went straight home once school was over for the day. Until Wednesday that was, since Green Valley was hosting many events run by the Garden Club, it meant volunteers to help with parts not actually under said club's power. It was why Christopher was helping to move tables and chairs when needed or being a general errand boy if needed once school lets out. Mostly because he had signed up to help months ago and it would be rude to bow out on the day of said event.

When he's not running around performing small errands for people, he can mostly be found sitting behind a table at an impromptu booth with several open books showcasing the various species of flowers that have been brought to be judged today. The head librarian had seen this as an opportunity for a bit more learning in people's lives and had made them memorize random facts from said books as a just in case a curious browser of said books did ask a question.

The cloudy sky and the canvas tent over said table could only do so much though for such a day, and well if Christopher looks a bit miserable sitting there...well you would be too if you were sitting in this heat in the blue and black plaid uniform of a lower year. He was also too wary of someone barking at him about remaining presentable to even attempt loosening, let alone removing his green third year tie, though he luckily there was some pity and the black jacket of the uniform was neatly folded over his chair. It wasn't much of a relief but it was something.


[He took a train going anywhere] (Prompt D)

The underground is always packed, but the various festivities and warm weather has created a swarm that made moving from point A to point B a bit of a hazard. Whether it be bumping into people trying to get to a certain gate, or being made to endure sharing personal space with complete strangers as the cars filled to capacity. It's likely a miserable experience for those that usually don't ride said transportation during peak hours, or those who do that are counting down the days when the crowd will thin back to normal.

Will you share in this misery with Christopher, or are you new to this crush and need a hand to bulldoze your way to your connecting station?

[Wildcard]

((OOC: Prose or Action tags, I'll match you on format and if none of these prompts ping you I am a okay in you setting up a different prompt to get things rolling.))

a

[forsteri]

Doesn't he know this person? At least, the other boy looks like someone he might know. He can't seem to place him... but he can see him putting those bulbs away with the utmost care and Yoshio makes a decision. Whether he knows him or not...

"Here, do you want these ones?"

He holds out the little bag, three round tulip bulbs sitting inside the mesh. "They won't do well with the plants around our building."

Christopher has managed to avoid the flower adornments but Yoshio hasn't, judging by the flower bracelet. If he turns around, there's a sprig of something else in his ponytail, too. But he doesn't mind them so much. Actually, right now, he's not paying attention to them at all. "Someone might as well get some use out of them."

Isabelle Thanisch (Featherine McLongname) | OTA - Warning: Vague Spoilers for Episode 8

[anovelidea]

( A - Opening Ceremonies / Special Prompt [Spoilers] )

Isabelle isn't one for celebrations - too much traveling, not enough booze - but this one is right near her house which means she can bring her own booze, and she cheers just as loudly as everyone else when the fireworks go off, set afire by the excitement of the faceless husks around her.

It's why it's pure instinct when she whips around to look over one shoulder, "It's great, isn't it, Toh-?!"

'Toh?' Who? She doesn't know anyone by that name. Blood runs frigid at the headache that starts, she knows this feeli

Reality stops obeying her.

"I have a proposition to make. May I?"

Every other thing in these memories had been as if scraps of paper, only that one girl had taken any value, and only as her cat, but this man - his face was not marred. White hair, way too pale, exhausted bags under pained eyes but a radiant, genuine smile. Her heart leaps in excitement. This man always has something of value to say. The only one with something of value to say.

"When it comes to your ideas, I will always lend you an ear... unless I'm in the shower or on the toilet!"

"Why don't we try and hand in our joint piece of work?"

Reality stops obeying her.

He rambles on - always does, the sotting bastard - but the thought moves blood and brings life to frozen veins. She only wrote for herself, for fun, for no one else. But... for someone to acknowledge that work. To acknowledge their combined work, his ideas and her words forged together in a true testament to the mystery genre. A gift for those who think like they do.

"I firmly believe in your talent!! How about you?"

"I also firmly believe in your talent..."

"Then it's decided! To your major debut, Ikuko-san!"

A wine glass is shoved in front of her, he spills a bit of it, and the shock gives way to the first real smile she's had in ages. The celebration goes from farce to fact, her glass hits his - the maid shrieks, Merlot is so hard to get out of pale carpets, the poor thing - but the joy is too much. It's enough. It's everything she wanted. For the first time, she feels human.

"Yes! To your major debut, Tohya...!"

"Tohya...?"

The fireworks blaze, sound fades away to a bright migraine-inducing ringing, and bodies fade out of her vision - but nothing registers past that bone-deep sadness. That person... The hallucinations don't matter for once. If she had a person like that in her life, maybe she wouldn't be like this. Or she would, but it wouldn't matter. She misses him. She doesn't know him but she misses him, and a hand flies to her eyes.

Isabelle does not cry. Isabelle is too eccentric to even have a heart that cries. Yet, that happiness from a moment ago is naught but cinders.


( B - Free Food For All Gatecrashers / Monday )

It's less the greenery she cares about - yes, tote around how much you care for the environment, who cares not her - but it's always nice having what amounts to a free landscaping every year. Zoning laws and her rich family means not once has the excitement encroached on her property, but a short walk through the woods later and Isabelle gets work on her classes' assignments surrounded by flowers and food so cheap it's nearly free. She even feels kind enough to grab some of the obnoxious galaxy flowers for Erica - she'll say she hates them, but later on she'll find them hanging upside-down by her window, drying out so they can become her bookmarks later.

She has the majestic tendency to have such an overbearing personality, but still vanish out of people's perception. Despite the crowds, no one bothers . She gets to spend her day people-watching, occasionally jotting notes for short stories in a notebook separate from her work. Yet, the seat across from her always has a cup of coffee, cream and two sugars (she only heard the name in that memory, but already knows that's how he likes it), always patiently sitting there, waiting for someone who will never come.


( C - DANCE MY PRETTIES / Friday )

Everyone jokes about. Oh, Thanisch, that terrible English teacher. Isn't Isabelle the one that makes her students run errands for her? Miss Thanisch, you can't just refuse to teach your class Shakespeare, it's part of the manditory core curriculum! The students are just as bad - some taking her course for the easy A, others coming to her after class to insult her teaching methods and ask her to take it seriously.

She takes writing seriously. As if anyone in her class is worth anything more than failing grades. They should be thanking her for giving them these other grading options.

Contrasting English, she's overly fond of her Creative Writing class, but on Friday you can see that she loves her Theater elective students. She rushes around with the rest of them, making last minute fixes to costumes or adjustments to someone's performance, hurling obscenities at rival schools, hanging out water to the backstage crew once the floats leave, when they inevitably all fall over in unison. The relief of a last-minute job well-done, sent off to where fate can destroy it in a place where they can't fix it.

No one dies, nothing explodes, a short celebration is had with thrown flowers and celebration, already plotting out things to change and improve on next year. And just like the flowers, one by one, they break and scatter to the winds, leaving Isabelle alone.

The water is immediately replaced with wine and blissful silence.


( D - Choose Your Own Torture / Wildcard )

((OOC: Nothing works? Message me! Discord or PM works. Re: typing style, brackets or prose is fine. I'll just change to match.

C

[tellmeimbeautiful]

"Miss Leigh! Miss Leigh!"

Morgan sighed audibly. A student, running up with an open, eager face, would usually be a welcome sight -so many pupils, sullen, grouchy, only cornering their teachers to grouse about grades- but not tonight. Tonight was Friday.

Friday is the day when Isabelle holds her theater class. A class she loves. A class that always leaves her in a particularly good mood.

And after all that happened lately, Morgan could use some good mood.

There was therefore only one solution: formulate an escape plan, and fast. Pretending to be deep in thought, Morgan took a turn through the main door of the teachers' lounge, then ran across to the smaller door that led to the service stairs, normally reserved for service personnel.

This was an emergency. The service stairs would do.

Up the stairs, down the hall -no more distractions, only the sound of footsteps echoing- and there, to the left, the auditorium. Morgan pushed the door open slowly, peeking inside: as expected, Isabelle is sitting there, alone, sipping wine.

"You wouldn't happen to have a glass for me?"

Makoto Fukami (Gen Bonavida) | OTA | Minor spoilers for Kamen Rider Ghost

[transient_specter]

[Opening Ceremonies]

Gen doesn't like the flower festival. It always makes him a little bit sniffly, like he's getting a cold. He takes allergy medication for this stuff, but it's still not a hundred percent effective. Still, he promised to be here for Ciro, so here he is. He stares up at the sky, already bored, and braces himself for the loud noises he knows are coming. They go up, and then explode -

He's running up the steps, beside a girl in a striped shirt and a woman with a pink shirt. On the other side are a monk, and the two people he's seen before. They're racing to the front lawn, where there's an old man dressed in an strange outfit with a cat in his arms.

'Welcome home,' He doesn't catch the name. They all gather around the man, laughing.

'I'm alive again!' The boy who was addressed speaks. 'Excellent, excellent. Everything turned out just how I planned!' Everyone laughs, and the girl with the pink shirt waves it off, calling him a liar. 'Gramps, who's this cat?' 'Well you see... this is -' Again, he doesn't catch the name. '- true form!' The monk's eyes widen and he approaches the cat.

'Goodness gracious! Master -' Again, the name isn't there. '- was a darling cat?' 'That's right!' The monk takes the cat in his arms. The girl in the striped shirt turns and thanks the boy with the reddish-blond hair, thanking him, though the name is again lost. Finally, he approaches the boy with the other boy wearing green. 'Thank you.' The green-wearing boy thanks the other as well. 'Yay!' He puts up both of his hands, and the other two meet his hands with theirs. He meets the hand with a fist, and the green-wearing boy with a more open palm. They laugh, and the monk takes out some onigiri, offering it to the boy with reddish-blond hair. He takes it, and stares at it. The monk and the girl in pink nod, and he thanks them before taking a bite. There's an overwhelming sense of relief and love and caring as the vision fades.

And an overwhelming headache. What the hell? Gen presses his hand to his head, leaning against a wall.

[Week Prompts]

On Monday, Gen is around the WonderWorld Park. He isn't really going on most of the rides, but he's people-watching. It's a little crowded, but he has a sweet tooth, and he's not going to be denied some of the good food that you can only be found at an amusement park.

Wednesday he's milling around the gardening contest, near the edges. He heads towards some of the displays that aren't getting a lot of attention, pretending to care. He really doesn't know much about flowers. He also swings by the Green Valley Gardening Club displays, where members will probably recognize him as Ciro's brother. He's mostly here for Ciro, but he'll say hi to some of the other members, too.

Friday is more important for him. While he doesn't care about the floats themselves, he does care about some of the people on them. He knows some students from the dojo that take dance and martial arts at the same time to enhance both, so he's again mostly there to support other people. Green Valley's theater students get a friendly nod, and any of his students involved in the parade get a serious Look. Don't screw up, now.

[Anything Else?]

Gen's mostly around during the week, though he's hanging back from most of the festivities, so it's not all that hard to find him or run into him.

[[ooc; Let me know if you want a different prompt! ... And I don't care if we go brackets or prose. /o/]]

Wednesday

[sociallyarcward]

John decided that while he was on break from his family's restaurant booth, he would check out what the gardening club had submitted for this year's contest. He knew Haruka had been putting in a lot of work for this, as well as Ciro, and other members that he knew. Now that he thought about it, outside of regular school time he hadn't seen much of them in the week leading up to the big event. Ciro had mentioned they'd be pretty busy though, as had Haruka.

Speaking of Ciro though, John noticed a familiar face who wasn't with the gardening club. He wasn't necessarily close to Gen, but tutoring Ciro meant he had seen him a few times. Not to mention the few times John had gone to Mako's gym he'd seen him a few times. John couldn't help but wonder if Gen was starting to feel better. He'd recommended a few remedies to Ciro for headaches, though he couldn't be sure if they'd actually been effective or not.

John decided to make his way over to ask. It was crowded though so first he called out to get his attention, raising a hand, "Hey, Gen! Wait up!"

yoshio koutarou (jirou sakuma) | ota

[forsteri]

1: sunday
[Throughout the festival, Yoshio can be found with a bracelet of heartsease and pear blossoms woven together, and a cluster of forget-me-nots pinned into the base of the ponytail he's tied his hair into. The eyepatch stays the same as ever, though he'd entertained pinning a big flower on top of it. If one eye wasn't going to be used at all, then it made sense to at least do something with it, but he had decided it was too much of a hassle.

Later in the evening Yoshio can be found sitting on the ledge of some stairs in between two planters overflowing with clematis flowers, somewhere quiet that he can watch the fireworks. Daytime fireworks are weird, he'd always thought, but he's used to them by now. The first ones start to crackle and as he watches he's suddenly somewhere else completely.

The Inazuma Japan selection match is a fierce battle. There are twenty-two of them, just enough for two teams -- but some of them won't make it, and he knows it. It's a harsh truth to face. The game ends 3-2 for the side he's playing on. It's with bated breath the players await the selection.

"Kidou Yuuto. Gouenji Shuuya. Fubuki Shirou. Kazemaru Ichirouta. Kogure Yuuya. Tsunami Jousuke. Hijikata Raiden. Tachimukai Yuuki. Midorikawa Ryuuji. Fudou Akio. Utsunomiya Toramaru. Tobitaka Seiya. Kabeyama Heigorou. Kurimatsu Teppei. And last of all... Endou Mamoru. Those are the chosen sixteen."

Coach Kudou finishes his announcement without naming Sakuma. He's not chosen, and yet... he's not bitter. Sakuma had been scared he might be. He doesn't trust himself not to be awful with such things anymore. And yet... instead of bitterness, all he feels is warmth. It's sad, he thinks, that he's surprised by his own reaction.

Sakuma leaves his place in the line.

"Kidou."

Kidou turns to him, his eyebrows furrowed. Sakuma wonders whether the look on his face is worry, and if it is, what is it for? All he can hope is that it isn't worry for his reaction. "Sakuma."

Sakuma doesn't hesitate. He reaches forward, hand outstretched. He can't keep the smile off his face. He wasn't chosen, and yet he doesn't feel like that at all. "Good luck out there. You are our pride." Teikoku's pride. Raimon's. And Sakuma's.

Kidou's mouth curves immediately. "Yeah." He reaches out and grasps his hand in his own and they stand there for a long moment, gripping each other's hands. Sakuma can't see Kidou's eyes beyond his goggles, and yet he knows they're both wearing the same expression. It's only when Kudou steps back up to speak to them again that they're forced to let go.

Sitting with his legs dangling off the ledge, as the memory (is it a memory?) fades, Yoshio pulls them up to press his face into his knees, eyes squeezed shut. His head hurts again. When is this going to stop? Is his life just going to be this weirdness from now on? He lets out a groan, rubbing at his uncovered left eye with the heel of his hand.]

2 - anytime during the week
[Yoshio puts the memory out of mind for the rest of the week, or at least, tries to. He wanders the festival, fully-charged phone in his pocket to appease his brother. There's a ton to do -- he spends a long time looking at the weird modified flowers and trying to decide if he's brave enough to go on some kind of wild amusement park ride. Finally he gets bored of all this and, realizing he's hungry, heads to grab something to put in his belly. What he ends up with is a box of french fries and a bottle of juice -- not the healthiest decision he's ever made, but it is a festival.

He retreats to an empty picnic table to eat, and sits with his back propped against the edge of the table, facing the rest of the festival. He sets his bottle down next to him on the bench, opens the brown paper bag around his fries. There's a seagull nearby -- there's always seagulls in places like this. It happens to waddle closer to him and he can't help but toss it one -- it catches it out of the air with a flap of its wings and gulps it down in one. It squawks at him when he ignores it after that and he sighs, tosses it another.

Above them, a second peeks over the edge of a building's roof. Yoshio doesn't notice that one, though. Not until a third lands right on the table next to him and shoves its head down into the fries. He gets up, turning to face it.]

Hey!

[It's not too long until a fourth appears. And a fifth. And a sixth -- and then there's a whole group of them, possibly twenty or thirty, all surrounding his feet, flapping and squawking. Yoshio is suddenly aware he can't go anywhere -- anywhere he might step, there's an indignant seagull.]

Aw, come on...

3 - wildcard
[Yoshio can be found throughout the festival on Sunday and Saturday, and maybe after school on the weekdays. Feel free to find him wherever you like, or hit me up on plurk (guriido_) or discord (tsukasa#7489) and we can figure something out!]

[lovelledup]

[Asher is on his way to get food himself when he hears a lot of squawking and upon rounding the corner of one of the food carts finds himself face to face with the sight of one of his neighbors completely inundated with seagulls.]

Yoshio?

[He looks between the boy and the birds. He kind of wants to help, since it seems like Yoshio needs it, but he honestly isn't quite sure how.]

Akira Machado | Pharos OTA

[seasonsofdeath]

Sunday - day

Upon arriving at the flower festival with his family, Akira almost immediately winds up with a flower crown on his head. He didn't really pick it, but he doesn't mind it, and most other people seem really happy with it so he supposes it can stay. He's content to just wander around and look at flowers and... randomly walk up behind people when they're examining something in particular.

"What are you looking at?" And where did he come from??

Sunday - sunset

The fireworks are very nice- the headache is not.

Akira squint his eyes shut against the pain, and the vision...

He's standing by the foot the bed- he knows it well. There's a girl lying there, watching him as his hands are tucked behind his back, in the middle of speaking to her.

"I want you to know... for me, our friendship was a miracle. But, miracles don't last forever. If only they did..."

He averts his eyes, while the girl quietly says, "Nothing lasts forever."

"I will cherish our conversations always. Even if today is the end, the bond between us can never be severed. Remember that."

Once again, he looks up at her, but there's water at the corners of his eyes. He's... not sure what it is. Is this... sadness, or happiness?

"It was fun while it lasted... Farewell."

His eyes are still squeezed tightly shut until his mother bends down, asking if he's feeling sick again and trying to check his temperature. "...I'm ok," he says quietly after a few moments, though he's not actually sure of that at all.

Wildcard/Weekdays

[Akira is may be found at the amusement park on Monday, but only if someone's acting as adult supervision. He will also be around for the school activities on Friday and Saturday.]

sunday

[forsteri]

"Huh?"

Yoshio blinks over his shoulder from where he's peering through a glass case at a selection of very meticulously groomed bonsai. "Oh." He moves over so the little boy can join him in front of the case. "Bonsai. I'm thinking how hard it must be to get these the way the person wants them." After all, a tree is a tree, in the end. You can guide it into the direction you want it to grow, but it'll grow the way it's supposed to, in the end.

Kiriya Kujo | OTA

[truthkills]

[Sunday - Opening Ceremonies]
Kiran's shut down the shop for a little while so he can go out and enjoy the festivities--it's not like anyone's going to have any urgent pawning needs while this is going on, anyway. He's dressed for the occasion, even if he's always wearing a loud Hawaiian print shirt. The bright colors and commotion of the festival both agree with him, and he's not expecting anything else weird to happen, except--

"Get ready to fly, Ace." Kiriya's waiting for the race to start, waiting for his chance to defeat this Bugster and get a decent sample, something he can examine and figure out the truth behind this mystery...

...only in order to do this, he needs a rider. His Gashat's for a racing game, and he's a bit...limited in what he can do alone because of it. That's why he's a motorcycle, and on his back sits the ace gamer he thinks has the best chance of winning this race so he can get what he needs.

"MIGHTY JUMP! MIGHTY KICK! MIGHTY! MIGHTY! MIGHTY ACTION X!" The noise Emu's Gashat makes at the transformation sounds off somewhere behind Kiriya's "head," and he knows Ex-Aid is ready to go. They've got this.

"It really is different riding with the ace!" Got to keep encouraging Ex-Aid, even now. They were all but flying through that course with Ex-Aid transformed, though the Bugster behind all of this wasn't going down without a fight. It wasn't a problem, not with Ex-Aid's power.

"The ones to win this race--" Kiriya says--

"--will be us!" --Emu finishes as he trigger's the Gamer Driver on Kiriya's dash, activating Bakusou Critical Strike and taking out the Bugster with a critical hit.

"GAME CLEAR!" the same voice that sounded off the Gashat booms at the resultant explosion.

Kiran almost collapses there, staggered by the sheer force of weirdness there and that headache. He's massaging the bridge of his nose as he unclips his sunglasses from his shirt and slips them on, because all these bright lights and he just aren't working together anymore.

Not when he is fairly certain he's just remembered literally being a motorcycle.

[Monday - WonderWorld Park]
WonderWorld had Kiran's attention at free. Of course he's going to go, and he's going to drag his niece and nephew along for at least part of the excursion for at least some of the day, but if the kids are still in school, heck, he'll hang out there by himself for a while. He's still wearing his ubiquitous Hawaiian shirt, and the shredded jeans rolled up to mid-calf paired with Converse worn with no socks really complete the ensemble. He is also going to eat all the cotton candy he can find, because he is an adult with disposable income and he can.

Even with that weird as hell headache he'd had the day before, Kiran strongly favors the faster rides when he's not gorging himself on cotton candy...but sometimes, things happen, loadings get delayed, rides undergo a hiccup or two, and park-goers about to go up the tallest hill of one of the park's coasters find their journey slightly delayed, as someone somewhere along the track lost a hat that, through some freak chance, landed on the track and triggered an emergency stop sensor. It won't take long to get the ride up again, but it's not like the people on board have any way of knowing that.

Kiran turns to whatever poor soul got loaded onto this thing next to him as the coaster grinds to a halt. "So...care to take any bets on how long it takes them to get the fire department to get us down?"

Monday

[lovelledup]

Asher's been busy helping his dad with his flower booth, but when the theme park opened his dad told him to go out and have fun for a while instead. So that's what he's doing. Or at least, he tried. Rather than being stuck at a flower stand, he's instead now stuck on a roller coaster. The guy sitting next to him isn't a complete stranger, being a relative of some people in his neighborhood, but they've never interacted much and Asher doesn't have the greatest impression of him. Of all the ways for this day to go.

He sighs and glances down at the ground where some people are staring up at them in a way that's generally unhelpful. "Soon, I hope."

Adrian Fairheights (Alucard) | OTA

[draculabackwards]

I. Sunday

[He'd been hammering at his thesis again, only taking a little time away to catch some of the opening of the grand flower festival. He needs something to distract him from the nonsense of the application and what better way than by hard work? However, even Adrian couldn't ignore the festivities filling the town. Especially the fireworks!

They're quite lovely.]

They did it! All the sacrifice had been worth it. It was that group again, all four of them together. The man with a whip leads them and he reaches up to clasp him on the shoulder. "I know this might be hard for you, Alucard, but we did everything we set out to do."

"It is, but we have done something unheard of. Stories of this will echo through the ages."

[Adrian rubs the bridge of his nose at the onrush of a headache. That voice again. The one calling him Alucard.]

Why can't I remember his name?


II. During the week

[Trying his hardest to ignore the lingering dread over the application, when Alucard isn't going to class or working on papers, he can be found at the Wonderland Park because it's free for a whole week and why not?

He will also be working on preparing the float for the Advanced Cycle history section because he got unfortunately roped into doing that! He's trying to not get roped to being on the actual float but that might be a losing battle.]

III. Wildcard!

((OOC: Want to do something not here? PM me or harass me on plurk at draculabackwards and we'll figure out stuff!))

II

[seasonsofdeath]

[He's clearly too busy to tutor his student during all that's going on, right? Right???

Unfortunately for Akira, no one else seems to know/think that, so at his usual time he shows up in the meeting place he and Adrian always settling in that, pointedly not reading his textbook and swinging his legs as he waits for his tutor to show.]

Lonán Cross Rook Knightley (Jun Kurosu) | OTA

[onlythankyou]

[A - Opening]
He'd slept late, after everything that was the night before. Yikes. But the dawn brings the scent of flowers, and sleep does wonders for his mood. Today, this whole week, he's going to ignore the freaky app and just have fun. Sunday is for general browsing.

And visions of a little boy with red-brown hair clutching a lighter and offering him a watch. If I'm you, then you're me. Take it. The bridal gowns on display seem to glow in the light of the streetlamp, and no moment could be more perfect...

He puts a palm to his head, blinking. Whispers to himself "Who on earth...was that boy...?"

[B - Around]
Monday and Tuesday, Lonán's appearances around the festival are somewhat diminished. He spends a lot of time helping at the Green Valley Gardening Club's stand. His presence does seem to bring in more attention. He also sneaks away, when he can, to work on...a secret project for Wednesday.

Thursday, Lonán has taken off to live the festival life to the fullest. He's sampling snacks, browsing merchandise, getting into impromptu nerf fights with anyone who'll play, attempting to ride everything at WonderWorld Park...

After all, Friday the club demands his attention again. Once their float's ready, though, he'll be found in the audience, watching the whole parade from start to finish.

Saturday? Just becomes the sequel to Thursday - doing all the things, but more aggressively this time.

B!

[1in_perfection]

At the moment, Michelle is trying to find someplace quiet; somewhere she can review her class notes, and proofread a letter she's penned the rough draft of. If she IS going to send a note to her family, she'd sooner not risk any negative emotions showing through and prompting inquiries from them. So writing it away from any computers strikes her as a smart move.

And in several turns she finds herself well lost and separated from any worries, inside a floral maze and installment. Now she only needs a good sitting spot.

And needs to get whatever just flew into her hair out right this very instant as she gives an awkward jump and skip to the side. Something pelted her in the head and her fingers close on-

...On.

...She's sure there has to be some reason on why there's a nerf pellet entangled in her hair. And right now her eyes are darting around and trying to pick out what, or who that answer is.

Michelle Chastain (Mitsuru Kirijo) | OTA | Warning for Prompt 2 and pseudo suicide mentioned there

[1in_perfection]

[I: General/Sunday]
Go somewhere new. Get some fresh air. Simple enough instructions to follow. And initially, Michelle is ready and content to do just that.

She manages perhaps one hour, tops, before that plan comes crashing down.

And the catalyst for that? Comes in the form of one flower stand she finds herself halting in front of. (And perhaps tripping up any number of people behind her, due to how sudden her stop is.) It’s one of those stands selling flowers at wallet gouging prices, but certainly appears to deliver on their displays; today’s selection comes in the form of hibiscus blooms, all in a dramatic array of colors and patterns. A few even are set under UV lights, to glimmer against black backdrops.

It’s all very pretty. Which doesn’t explain the way Michelle’s eyes narrow, and her expression wars between distaste… and a certain degree of desire.

“So, they decided this was the best time to trot out their bio-organics research?” She frowns at a logo set above the plants. Some sort of stylized crown and eye symbol; it’s almost drowned out by all the blooms. And the fact it’s easy to see as a simple corporate brand, in different parts of town.

“…But.” She finds herself continuing, more quiet than before. “Those flowers are… nice, I suppose.”

With the way she edges towards them, ‘nice’ is a clear understatement.

Try to talk her out of making an extravagant purchase?

[II: Sunday, Opening Ceremony]
((OOC: Warning for Persona 3 brand pseudo-suicide for this prompt.))

Michelle settles back to enjoy the ceremonies, her own spot picked out heedless of the rain and damp. She DOES have a decent umbrella on hand however, to shield herself and anyone nearby from rain, depending on how bad it may get.

But that umbrella gets folded away for a moment, once the fireworks begin; she wants to have a clear view of these. And the flashes of color and light are indeed impressive, and-

Something cold is pressed against her head. It’s a solid weight she carries in her hands, a smooth grip and trigger that fits to the curve of her palm and finger.

She should be terrified of what comes next. There’s no proof that she’ll be sane or survive the mental shock of what is to follow, once she pulls that trigger. But she can feel eyes on her, watching, waiting.

And she isn’t about to let them down. When everything is done, she can say that she didn’t flinch, and she managed to invoke with the tool given to her.

BANG.

Michelle doubles over at the memory, a sick feeling doing its best to settle in her throat. And her heart is racing at a dozen miles a minute and did she really, truly, just imagine putting a gun to her head? And that she was proud of what she was doing?

Compared to that, the eerie glow seems almost common place. Some… some after effect of the fireworks, no doubt. And her own odd moment could be blamed on the noise, perhaps.

That’s what she wants to claim, for now.

“Q-quite… quite the display.” But it doesn’t stop her voice from shaking. She speaks to whoever is closest, and carries a fading ember of that glow. “It brings… many odd things to mind, however.”

[III: During the Week]
Despite a rough start to the festival, Michelle seems determined not to remain confused or inactive for long. It’s going to be a common sight, spotting her moving among the arrangements and attractions. And always with a notebook and textbook at hand, for some studying.

…Which, does cause a noticeable stir a time or two when some of her papers get blown free during the parade, and she rushes to catch them.

And perhaps it’s a sign of how unnerved she is, but that distant facade of hers shows a few cracks, as a time or two she offers to use what’s left in her stipend for someone to go on a carriage ride, if they appear to need to relax; sometimes, those small acts of kindness aid her in feeling a touch more at ease, herself.

Finally, there’s the sight of her moving among the sculptures towards the end of the week; sometimes with a school group, other times on her own, and always furiously trying to get a few more notes in.

iii

[foxhands]

The first day at the festival had been...interesting, to say the least. Natsume's honestly really bothered by these recurring headaches and visions and things, especially after the scene he saw on Sunday. But with all the excitement of the festival--or no, let me rephrase that: he's a lot more interested in the festivities this week than he's been in previous years! These displays sure are fascinating, aren't they! He helped the theater club set up their production in the parade, too! (As a stagehand in the theater club.)

He's wandering around looking at the sculptures with the same amount of enthusiasm, looking more at the flowery figures and less at the path in front of him, focusing on all the pretty colors...and almost manages to crash into his schoolmate. There's a confused and hurried attempt to back away as soon as he realizes his error, but he manages not to trip over himself.

"Ah--sorry..."

Casimir Gutermuth (Kaltz) | Flower Stand | OTA

[dendranthema]

1. Throughout the week

[Every day this week, Casimir can be found running a small flower stand. The blooms stocked are more unusual varieties than he'd normally carry - they range from more normal ones like Ocean Song roses to Calypso Fairy Slipper orchids to Blue Cerinths, whereas the stranger ones include Night Sky petunias, Bleeding Heart flowers (for everyone being romantic at the festival), Flying Duck orchids, White Egret orchids, Dracula orchids and the Simia version (in a monkey shape for small children), Snake Gourd flowers, and two types of Passion Flowers, among other varieties.

The most unusual flowers at the stand are ones which glow under blacklight, and small blacklights which can be purchased separately.]

2. Late Sunday (OTA, but especially to Ariel and Asher)

[As the fireworks bloomed high in the sky, a flash appeared in Casimir's mind-

She'd fled, and Asato was safe. His relief at that was immeasurable. So many things were wrong, and even more waiting to go wrong. So many things he'd done or hadn't done. He'd never be free of worry, especially not while Asato was sick and cursed twice over - one of those times being his own fault. Still, with Asato's eyes closed and Kaltz's own hand resting on his forehead to send the chill of his powers into him to cool his fever... in that moment, it was the most they'd ever been like a real family, probably the most they ever would be. Asato, his precious son...

There was a ringing in his ears, and everything around him shifted for a moment before returning to normal. Another of those memories that weren't his? Magic?... Asato?... If his sons had another brother, he was sure he'd know.

.......Aside from that, why would he have a son with cat ears?]

You called?

[lovelledup]

[Asher, meanwhile, is showing the signs of the physical parts of that flash more readily, with his head bent over, one hand clutching at his ear to stop the ringing. He slowly lowers it once the ringing stops, but probably not before the reaction is noticeable to his father.]

Asher Gutermuth (Gladion) | OTA

[lovelledup]

Opening - Sunday

[One moment he's watching the fireworks, and the next-

It's a party for the newly crowned Champion of the Alola Pokemon League. A lot of people are gathered around a bonfire, many of whom he recognises even if he's never spoken to many of them. A couple who are the reason he's there in the first place.

He doesn't approach, staying out of sight at the outskirts of the festivities and peeking in from behind a tree. The Champion is having a well deserved celebration, and his sister is there too, smiling brightly. It makes him smile as well. Satisfied, he leaves them to their fun and walks away.

The memory is confusing enough on its own, but quickly drowned out by the sudden headache and everything that accompanies it. He doesn't realise until he notices someone nearby being concerned that he's a bit hunched over with a hand over his ear in an attempt to stop the ringing. He drops his hand back to his side, looking a little sheepish.]

Uh... yeah, I'm okay.

Flower Stand - Any day

Off and on throughout the festival, Asher has been helping out with his father's flower stand. Between being a good father and an intelligent business person, leaving his fourteen year old son manning the booth entirely on his own was not really part of the plan... but every so often there's a few minutes where it happens. Asher knows the flowers well enough to handle simple interactions with potential customers, at least. And if not, well, he can always stall until his dad gets back.

Right now, he's just hanging around behind the display table seeming a bit bored until he notices someone looking around at the flowers.

"Do you need something?"

Wildcard

[Between his dad working a booth and him knowing a few people in the gardening club, Asher will be around a lot. You can catch him around helping out with various stuff, or just around. He's not obligated to stay helping anyone the whole time, so he'll also be exploring, watching the festivities, riding rides, etc.]

[seasonsofdeath]

Akira, aka weird neighbor kid, is wandering mostly with his parents. But he is small and quiet and also not great at sticking close to the people trying to look after him, so he wanders over to the flower stand eventually. There is still a flower crown in his hair that he seems to either be entirely unaware of or just doesn't care.

"No," he says, quietly crouching in front of the flowers and just looking at them. ...That's it. That's all he's doing.

Raidou Kuzunoha XIV | OTA

[capital_asset]

I. General

Really? A flower festival? Is this the sort of thing he has to look forward to while he's stuck here?

Not that Rei has anything against flowers per se, but a citywide festival devoted to them seems like a bit much. To say nothing of the cognitive dissonance from switching focus from demons and weirdly ineradicable software to... this. Although even this has curfew counters prominently displayed, just in case you were in danger of forgetting that Eddan has issues beyond its choice of entertainment.

He manages to avoid getting stuck with a flower crown, instead allowing someone to give him a flower necklace... which ends up wrapped around his wrist and forearm instead. (Rei's never really been all that fond of neckwear; it's why his necktie's always untied.) It gets him some weird looks, but then he's been getting weird looks all along thanks to his hair - and the gossip about why he has to go to school here, but mostly it's his hair. Admittedly, the cherry red is pretty eye-catching.

He checks out a couple of the exhibits, more out of boredom than anything else, but flowers are really, really not his thing and probably never will be. (Unless the flowers are full of brainwashing pollen or some other stupid farfetched thing, in which case he'll probably be just like these people at this time next year - assuming he is still here next year - but what are the odds of that?) He also samples some of the food, somehow refraining from making any dumb jokes about suspect additives. See, sometimes he can be polite. Ish.

II. Opening Ceremonies

He has no idea what he's going to do with this packet of tulip seeds. Does he look like the kind of guy who gardens? Still, the ceremony doesn't seem too bad so far, speechifying from the mayor aside. Politics and platitudes have never really sat right with him. He's heard too many of them.

Still, it's been a while since he last viewed a fireworks display, so Rei decides he might as well settle in to watch. Having daytime fireworks is a little weird (and more than a little depressing, given the reasons), but they're pretty enough, and Rei certainly can't fault them for making the best of a bad—

He stands on a platform of silver, the metal clearly not sculpted by human hands. An endless silver ocean stretches before him; strange silver constructs jut from its depths. They might be buildings, or the spires of buildings, or they could be something else entirely. It's hard to tell.

Most of his attention, however, is on the entity who stands before him, a blond foreign man dressed entirely in grey... or so he appears. Lucifer regards him with something approaching affection, as one might show towards a pet. "My judgment was sound," he says, looking absurdly pleased, as if he hadn't just spent the last several minutes attempting to kill Raidou in the name of 'testing' him. "You, and only you, can become the spark to change the future currently determined by God."

He gives Raidou a small smile. "You may wish to visit the Gouma-Den. This future of God's... I want to see it changed. If I walk at your side, perhaps I may witness it someday..."

He abruptly snaps back to himself, the ringing in his ears drowning out any noise from the crowd around him. Out of the corner of his eye he can see strange, distorted shapes, glowing things that only look human in the vaguest sense— And then in the space of a single blink, they're gone again, as if they'd never been there to begin with. Rei's head hurts. He'd like to think it's a migraine. He's pretty sure it isn't.

Maybe he should go back to the dorms.

III. Weekdays/Wildcard

After that incident, the festival holds even less appeal to him. Regardless, he can still be seen out and about during the week (if nothing else, the cherry-red hair is hard to miss), although there's a certain distractedness in his demeanor that normally wouldn't be there. For the most part, he spends it people-watching - something he does particularly intently during the hour or so before sunset, at least at first. It's probably not doing his reputation much good, given some of the looks he's getting; then again, some of that could be from the hair, too.

Occasionally, he checks out the mechanical horses, but that's less due to Sinister Happenings than it is the fact that he thinks they're interesting and is wondering just how they work. The parade he mostly goes to because it's there, and he could take or leave the Flower Monarchs, but at least he manages to show up.

Niko Fuyu (Natsumi Hikari) - OTA

[summerorange]

1 - Late Sunday Afternoon

It's no surprise that Niko would be here. The Flower Festival has been the highlight of every spring with her family, and this year's no exception. Her parents have taken the day off so that everyone can enjoy the festivities together. That's not to say that they weren't taking photos! But it's personal ones with their cell phones - simply to help preserve the memories.

But during the fireworks signalling the end of the day, Niko suddenly feels more...elated?

She's stepping out of the studio, absolutely estatic to see the familiar sights of her home neighborhood. It's older, and clearly in some urban area of Japan. But all the signs can be read and understood by her, almost in a familiar manner. "Waaah, we're back!" She proclaims to the two other men with her - a slightly shorter guy with black hair and a curious look on his face, and the guy she had used her thumb on before. The same one with the pink camera, and who stands taller than her.

"Ah, it's so good to be back in my world!" Niko - no, Natsumi proclaims with a smile as she stares towards the horizon. "My home..."

Niko suddenly cringes as the ringing drowns out all other noises in her ears, as that splitting headache returns. Trying to open her eyes to look up at her family, she gasps audibly as she sees many folks around her seem to be distorted, almost in a sickingly familiar away to her...

Unable to initially hear her family's concerns, she stumbles her way thru the crowds, trying to find a spare spot to sit and collect herself. Though if she bumps into a fellow person, she will murmur some kind of apology.


2 - Capturing Memories

But after that late afternoon, though, the headache does go away, and people look normal again. Some part of Niko feels concerned, almost like people looking human but not has happened before... But she always shakes her head whenever the thought comes up. Really, the app is making her so paranoid, it's not even funny!

Instead, she keeps herself busy with her independent work all throughout the week. Parking her motorbike in one of the public areas of the park, she puts out her usual sign up next to it: 'Want to preserve memories thru something other than your phone? Ask me how!' She stands there with a small table set up and her camera equipment laid out on top, and is busy cleaning one of her lenses when the next person approaches. "Oh, hello! Need help preserving a memory?" She inquires with a bright and professional smile.

2

[prayed]

The sign had caught her attention, but it was the small display that it had led her to that kept it. In an age where taking a photograph was as easy as taking a picture with one's phone, cameras were becoming an increasingly rare sight. There's something novel about it, like getting a glimpse into the past, but the sudden question catches her off guard.

"Hi..." Kyoko mumbles her awkward little greeting. She hadn't meant to catch this much attention, but in the end she supposes it's her own fault for letting herself get caught up in things. In the end, she decides to use it as an opportunity to ask the question running through her mind:

"You mean like, taking a photo?"