2020-05-24 - Uminari Matsuri: Firework Viewing At Festival's End
| Title: Uminari Matsuri: Firework Viewing At Festival's End | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Several Magical Girls gather at a well known playground at the end of Uminari Matsuri to celebrate a magical night. | |
| Who: Eri Shimanouchi, Yumi Ohzora, Fuu Hououji, Mikoto Minagi, Kyouko Sakura | |
| Where: Uminari Seaside Park | |
| OOC - IC Date: 2020-05-24 - 2015-08-29 | |
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
fzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...*POP!*
shrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiik....*BOOM!*
The Uminari Matsuri festival-goers paw at their eyes, helping one another up. They don't question too much why they were briefly on the ground. Maybe they were helping look for lost coins, or picking up litter. It doesn't matter very much. There's a much more competitive demand on their urgency.
Fireworks blossom gloriously in the sky above Tokyo Bay. Because there's such a large expanse of water adjacent to Uminari Park, the matsuri can host a particularly impressive display. It paints upturned faces in one color, then another, then another.
Though it's difficult to hear, companions -- often with linked hands, something that just seems to happen naturally -- are seen, far and wide, to murmur tenderly in one another's ear. And there's always enough time, between explosive evidence that the power of beauty is real and worth protecting, to exchange other romances, too.
After this, the festival will start to wind down until next year.
But what it celebrates will never truly end.
(OOC Note: Thanks to Pink Moon Stick for this part of the set)
-=-=-
One side effect of the Nakewameke attack means that when the fireworks go off, the bayside is not crowded with festival goers there to watch. Oh certainly there are scattered people who got there early, and those who were en route picking themselves off their impromptu naps on the concrete. Magical Girls don't have to shake off that lethargy, and for once being a defender of Tokyo offers the benefit of a head start - but how will they use that time?
The 'best' viewing area according to many tourist guides would be at the edge of the park is a grassy slope that connects to the bay leads to an upraised platform of concrete and ginkgo leaf patterns in the railing. Give it a few minutes, and it will be in that state.
However, some instinct of familiarity will almost certainly draw them elsewhere.
There is a playground nearby, known to many Magical Girls of Tokyo and right now what might draw one's attention is how abandoned it is. Festival activities having drawn away younger children, and the beginning of the fireworks show drawing parents to take their children closer to the bay. King Penguin stands stately in the center, a high post that allows one to see the fireworks shimmering over the water. Monkey bars and a jungle gym offer similarily high, albeit less regal thrones. A swingset stands ready to receive people, as do picnic tables.
Right now it is a shrine to youth. And it is ready to receive visitors that are on in the liminal space between childhood to adulthood.
To show them the sort of magic a night like tonight can bring all over again.
There a girl stands there waiting beside the Jungle Gym, wearing a lovely green yukata, with white patterns of leaves and budding flowers. On the left shoulder and the right hip, the yukata's color changes to a gradient of pink that transitions back to green, the more vibrant shift offering a sign of the passing of the seasons. A darker pink obi surrounds her waist. On the right side of her hair is an ivy accessory, a trailing of pairs of leaves and budding white berries.
>It's starting.
Before that message was an invitation that was sent to the Magical Girls she knows. A fireworks viewing. Certainly she didn't predict the Nakewameke attack causing this choice of location to become even more ideal, it just worked out that way.
Slipping her phone back in the purse that hangs over the sleeve of her forearm, she looks up with a smile, the bright explosions high above the horizon reflecting in her glasses.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
After that unusual avalanche of nakewameke, Mikoto returned to the lantern-painting stand, because Mikoto left something precious there.
Also: her cat-faced purse. It goes on one shoulder, while Miroku's case rests on the other. Luckily, everyone was too drowsy to notice her putting a greatsword back in its resting-place. Judging by the keychain danging from the strap of that purse - a cat with a golf club! - there's something much more mundane in there. It's fine.
Her facepaint by now is terribly smudged, all white and red streaks; it's difficult to tell just what it was supposed to be, after that fight. Her red-and-yellow obi sash is a little loose and disorganised, hanging lower on one side of her hip than the other. But somehow she's managed to avoid too much dirtiness on her pale blue yukata; the fluffy white clouds at the edges are still bright in the moonlight.
She looks like she's been climbing trees, not facing down a dozen-dozen bombs. It's not even a bad guess. Would Mikoto really let zori sandals stop her from climbing things..?
Mikoto shuffles the tanabata lantern with its little led light to one hand, as her purse beeps cheerfully at her. Moving the cat brush aside, she pulls out her phone, and her eyes light up as she tucks it back in.
She doesn't bother replying, because it's faster to just /go./ She doesn't fumble with her steps in traditional sandals. Scrambling down to that familiar park --
"Eriii!" That's the only warning that girl in the green yukata will get before a girl leaps to wrap herself around her midsection, lantern /thudding/ against her back as she wraps her arms around her. With that little spin, Mikoto leans back on one leg, reaching up to hook the lantern on one of the rungs of that jungle gym before her arms hoist her up on the metal. With a little grunt of exertion, her arms extend, and she pushes herself up a little further.
She's sitting on top of the jungle gym now. That's happening.
Because this... is a good place to see fireworks.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
It feels like such a short time ago that she was one of the children to play in Penguin Park, and for all that's happened, the path from festival ground to playground is still familiar - so familiar that she could be blindfolded, her hands bound, and her feet would still find the way for her.
But rather than being trudged along like a prisoner, Fuu is open-eyed and open-handed as she arrives in Penguin Park, armor dismissed and clad again in her festival yukata - a darker shade than Eri's, save the lighter swirls on sleeves and hem, and with a different pattern over her back. "Thank you, Eri-san," she says softly, bowing to the gardener with a smile, then directing her smile towards Mikoto with a shallower incline of her head.
Then she turns her gaze to the sky, although she's still keeping a bit of attention closer to the ground for other arrivals.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.
Kyouko Sakura sashays into the inviting glows bathing the cozy confines of the little playground park. The festive sounds of joyful celebration still make their way into the happy little glen, but with the way things have shaken out those noises are more of a background hum than anything more actively distracting. Her typically catlike stride is somewhat curtailed by her yukata, a more constrictive fashion than is typical, but even that traditional dress cannot fully revamp her loping gait.
The garment itself is a reddish pink, cooler in tone than her flaming hair but not by a great deal. Delicate little white blossoms spill out along the fine material like splashes of spring, occasionally set against concentric white circles that resemble ripples in water. Her obi is very broad, and yellow, and around it is a second obi, reddish-orange and much slimmer, except for the ostentatious bow it is tied to at the small of her back. A broad black ribbon perches upon her hair, and in her hands she carries a tray adorned with various foodstuffs.
Finger food, all. Some savory, some sweet, some fried and some fresh. Nothing that relies too much on heat for its appeal, but instead a leisurely tour of tastes without any urgency or itinerary. As always seems to be the case, Kyouko somehow manages to have just a bit more food on hand than seems reasonably possible. At the center stand two candy apples, one red and one green - they taste the same, despite their appearances, but the significance of the colors speaks for itself.
Mikoto rockets in, either less encumbered by her own attire or just less concerned with it, claiming Eri's attention just before Kyouko calls out to greet her. Instead the red head grins and shakes her head a little, marveling at how little time or transition was required between the running hug and one of the few more cat-like presences than herself clamoring up to a high perch.
Coming up to Eri's side, she leans in and steals a quick kiss, before turning the tray in her hands so that the red candy apple is facing towards Eri, and its green mate towards Kyouko herself. She can eat, or not, whatever she likes in whatever order she likes. But Kyouko wants to signal that much intent, at the least.
"Evenin'...sorry I'm running late, had to get some'a this made specially.."
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Eri's hand lifts, her fingers offering a small wave to Fuu. "Don't mention i-" Eri's neck turns at the sound of her name, the impact of Mikoto to her back causing her to stumble a step. "Mi-ko-to." She enunciates, with a cheerful yet more subdued greeting, her sleeved Yukata arm sliding around Mikoto's neck in a brief one-armed hug. The tips of her fingers touching that braid as she slips away.
"Going up?"
She asks, as her arm moves to smooth out the sides of her Yukata, then her hair. Her fingertips press and glide against the side of her hair in a self-conscious gesture, trying to fix it.
"Can't say I blame you."
The view is nice up there. It's why she picked this spot. Yet for now she stands with her feet firmly planted on the ground.
The motion ceases the moment she sees Kyouko. Her smile warm, her eyes sparkling from the glow of fireworks reflecting off her glasses.
And then a candy apple. She goes cross-eyed looking at it. Then puts the side of her hands up to her lips, as if stifling a giggle that never quite gets there.
Dropping her hand, she looks quite serious again. "Hmm. You couldn't help yourself could you? Well... ah... first..."
Reaching a hand into her purse, she takes out a handkerchief. Leaning in, she whispers discretely to confide something, with a finger pointing at Kyouko's cheek, "... you have a little something... I'll get it..."
Lifting the handkerchief, she steps in as if to get it. Then leans forward to plant a peck on her cheek. Breaking contact, she whispers by her ear, "Got it."
And then immediately she leans down, sinking her teeth into the side of the candied apple to take a delicate bite of it, as smoothly as if she'd merely dabbed Kyouko's cheek with that hanky rather than her lips.
Straightening back up, she takes the handkerchief to her mouth, like she's hiding a secret smile, "Worth the wait." She comments, agreeably.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto's eyes blink closed in a momentary show of content, though they soon open again, bright gold on the backdrop of the night. "Yup!" She chirps, and the agreement is just as happy as her name. Eri has guessed /entirely correctly./
Like a cat, Mikoto likes high places.
From that perch, legs swinging gaily, Mikoto waves to: "Fuu!" That's a cheerful greeting, too, if perhaps not /quite/ as intricately layered. Looking down to the girl still on the ground, it's not at all unusual to see someone else step into the space she evacuated.
(Mikoto hasn't seen Kyouko in a while, but she's grateful for that, really. She thinks it worked out better this way.)
Wide-eyed she watches another intricate exchange in a way which might be construed as /entirely/ rude, right until something clicks in Mikoto's brain and her cheeks colour and she hurriedly looks up at the sky instead, with a hum of distraction. That's... that's /romance.../
ERI IS REALLY GROWING UP?!
Mikoto giggles to herself in unexplained relief and affection, and leans back on her wrists against the jungle gym, looking up to the sky.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
A little away from the biggest of the crowds, Yumi Ohzora got the message. It's been a lovely festival, to be sure--but this area?
The simple truth is that Yumi grew up in Tokyo, but King Penguin is more a dignitary she's known of for some time than an old friend; stepping onto the playground is a little like being a guest in a whole other world, a quiet thing. She suits a little otherworldliness, though; pale, gray hair, worn loose down her back. Her yukata is pale green, with a sunflower pattern and a yellow obi. She walks with her face up towards the sky, looking over the firework display above. This could of course take her to places where she might trip, instead...
But she doesn't. Instead she comes to a stop near the swings, finally looking down to the others. "...I'd worry about being late, but... Sounds like it's not just me, huh?"
"They're pretty..."
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
"Kyouko-san, Yumi-san," Fuu smiles, bowing her head briefly to the two newest arrivals. She smiles briefly at Eri's stealing that kiss, briefly raising her sleeve to hide the smile and possibly muffle a giggle, and then the bespectacled blonde turns her attention skywards again, leaning gently against the side of the jungle gym, below and to the side of Mikoto's perch.
"Tamaya ..."
<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.
Eri's smile fuels Kyouko's own. It's hard not to feel an infectiousness to that happy display against the backdrop of bursting cascades of color in the sky, their mutual warmth and love one more joyful explosion among many. Eri's glasses capture that feeling so well, and conveniently enough her eyes excel at capturing Kyouko's attention.
Giggling slightly at Eri's...intimidation? Bemusement? At the candied apple, Kyouko roils her shoulders in a somewhat theatrical shrug, and smirks back at her. "Can I ever help myself?"
Arching her eyebrows a little, Kyouko leans in to listen to Eri, somewhat confused but going along with whatever her girlfriend is up to. It's a policy that's served her well so far..blushing a bit, Kyouko startles a little, not so much from being kissed as from being kissed unexpectedly. Grinning again, as Eri leans in to her ear, she twists her head to steal a kiss of her own from Eri's cheek.
Maybe all the red of her outfit and her crown of hair will help conceal the tinge that's come to her cheeks. Grinning bright and toothily, she pops some mochi into her mouth, and nods in assent.
Setting the tray down on the ground near hers and Eri's feet, Kyouko waves brightly to Fuu, Mikoto and Yumi, greeting them all with a broad swathe of good cheer. "'lo all. Happy evening to ya."
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"Nope." Is her immediate answer. Even before a kiss touches her cheek from her blushing girlfriend. She doesn't seem bashful in comparison, like she wholly expected it, and even the giggling both muffled, and not does not make it so.
"Maa... Yumi-chan. I feel like you're right on time."
Eri's eyes lift up at Yumi's exclamation. As more fireworks go off. And there's a faint echo of Fuu's word in inverse, as if calling attention to some ancient rivalry.
"Kagiya..."
Her eyes look around from one, to the next, then at Kyouko setting the tray on the ground - as if searching for her finger food of choice that she's not going to let go to waste. "It's nice that we're able to get together like this. If you'd told me three months ago we'd be doing this tonight... I don't think I'd have believed it..."
Eri's fingertips lightly touch Kyouko's back, where they come to a rest. Her smile becoming fond, in this address to the others.
"Ah... I'm sounding a little oversentimental aren't I? I'm not meaning to give a speech. Just... what I meant to say is..." A particularly powerful starburst of fireworks blossoms in the sky, crackling exuberantly like a demi-god holding a sparkler. Her volume dropping only a fraction of an instant, like she'd been captivated by it, "...sometimes its nice to be wrong."
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Tamaya...
'I'm not going anywhere! Hayate's festival is on the line!'
"Ta..." and at first the mora is a scouting mission on Mikoto's lips, slow to waking, quiet under the glittering /bang/ up above. It is foreign; it is new. And shortly it is /loud,/ as happiness bursts over the sides of the dam and floods the valley of her cheeks. "Tamaya! Kagiya!"
Fuu will shortly find that what she has wrought is an overwhelmingly physical thing: Mikoto swings down from the bars of the jungle gym to land beside her, and shortly her arms seek to wrap about the second girl in green. Even without her sword in hand, Mikoto is entirely capable of giving someone an /excellent/ squeeze. She might well end up just hoisting the other girl up, if she's not careful. "Kagiya!" She declares, brightly. "Tamaya!" Burning bright in her joy - no wonder - is gratitude.
Finally releasing Fuu, Mikoto bounds over to Yumi at the swingset, and unless she takes evasive action she will find herself wrapped up in a tight hug too - though perhaps not /quite/ as tight as employed with Fuu. "Tamaya! Tamaya! Kagiya! Kagiya!" Mikoto cheers, and by the end she grasps at Yumi's hand, fully intending to drag the both of them over to the jungle gym with everyone else.
"Mm!" She hums enthusiastic affirmation, to Eri, on the eve of her speech-which-wasn't-meant-to-be-really. The fireworks are up in the sky instead of exploding in her face, and Eri's voice is a whisper but Mikoto's sounds like a gong: "This is better, yup!"
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"Haha," Yumi answers Eri, smiling over at her and Kyouko both. "Hi," she adds to her too. She absolutely sees blushing. But she's quiet, at first, after that; she doesn't move away from Mikoto and instead hugs her back. She waves Fuu's way, too, as she comes along over. "All right," she tells Mikoto with a little laugh, and then looks over the group again, thinking about what Eri says.
"I'm not going to bug you for being sentimental, you goof," Yumi replies. "Did you think I would? You should totally be sentimental! It's a festival, you're out, you're with your friends and with a /particular/ friend..."
Yumi grins. "...It's nice," she agrees. "Mikoto-chan's got it."
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
The squeak which Mikoto wrings out of Fuu is half from surprise, half from the sheer pressure exerted fy Mikoto's arms in that exuberant hug - but Fuu recovers quickly enough to hug Mikoto back, startled uncertainty evolving into a happy smile. She doesn't need to know *why* Mikoto is suddenly so happy, after all; it's good that she *is*.
(And getting lifted off her feet, even briefly, serves as an excellent reminder that no matter how slight Mikoto might *look*, she swings a sword which is probably at least Mikoto's own weight.)
Fuu watches Mikoto go on to hug Yumi as well, and smiles at the sight while quietly straightening her yukata. Fuu's gaze tracks upwards again to watch the continuing fireworks - but now, it's more than just a little bit of her attention which remains in the park, with her fellow magical girls, both those who've been friends just about all along and those with whom she's been at odds.
This is how it should be: together, in spite of their assorted differences.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.
To Kyouko there's not much subtle at all about a kiss behind a kerchief, and in its way it seems even more conspicuous. Not that this is a critical thought in her mind, not at all. She's still adjusting to having love in her life, but conspicuousness is not something that she feels particularly shy about. It's more that she doesn't see much of a meaningful difference, and when she initiates her own large and small affections, she is characteristically direct.
As Eri touches her back, Kyouko slings an arm around her shoulders, letting her hand dangle lazily down, a relaxed slouch slightly creeping into her posture as she relishes the ambiance. When her companion observes that there's something to be said for being wrong on occasion, she nods whistles approvingly, lacking enough available hands to clap.
There's some sort of residual tension in the air. Kyouko has been preoccupied with her own affairs for a fair spell, and whatever may be the source of it goes over her head, but it's just as well. There's a spirit of ease and good feeling in the air, and that's the only conclusion that she's interested in drawing.
"Mm..I probably brought too much for Eri 'n me, so help yourselves if you're hungry. Can always get more if we need."
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
When Yumi teases her, she looks briefly flustered, "Ah... I just thought..." She pauses, her expression becoming abstracted, "... well... it doesn't matter what I thought..."
There were a lot of things she thought, assumed. These things don't make much sense anymore.
Mikoto's cheerful gong of agreement, and Yumi's agreement. When Kyouko gets up to sling an arm over her shoulders, Eri responds by moving out of that moment to simply leaning her body weight into her and placing her head on Kyouko's shoulder, having to adjust herself when the pressure sets her glasses slightly ajar.
"Probably... I think I'd like to watch the show first before eating..."
This feels like a moment where she might stay there in silence for some time, just enjoying resting herself right where she is. It does not last too long though...
Abruptly the warmth of her hair, shifts off of Kyouko's shoulder. Her hand away from her back. "Help me up...?"
She's already standing, alongside her, so it might seem momentarily confusing...
... but with a twinkle in her eye, she looks towards King Penguin, the stately bird only a few scant meters away from their current position. "I want to watch from a little higher."
And instead, offers her the fingertips of a single hand. It is perhaps not strictly necessary that she ask Kyouko to help her up to a better vantage point on that regal slide. She's asking anyhow.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto is very strong! It means she gives very good hugs.
There is /the offer of food./ "Thanks!" Mikoto chimes, again - she's eaten a lot in this festival, but apparently Mikoto can always justify a little more food. Excepting, of course, that Eri trails into what she'd like, and Mikoto looks from the food back to her friend. "'Kay!" She chirps, and doesn't move to eat immediately, because /that is how much she likes Eri./ Enough... to put off eating snacks.
Eri spirits Kyouko off to King Penguin, a partnership which Mikoto would not dare to interrupt (though surely she'll find Kyouko to tackle her into a hug at /some/ point tonight), and this is when Mikoto realises something about the teasing she's heard. Subsequently, Mikoto leans up to Yumi.
... Mikoto shortly finds she is /way/ too short to lean up to Yumi.
Instead, she puts a hand on her shoulder to tug her down to Mikoto height. This completely ruins Mikoto's attempt to be stealthy and subtle, as if she hasn't already shattered any preconceptions of her abilities there.
"Yumi," Mikoto whispers, eminently serious, "they're /not just/ friends!" Kyouko found someone to adopt her, as far as Mikoto is concerned. If one were to ask her, she'd reply that this... is the true happiness of every person who has been likened to a stray cat.
(Say, where did Mai go..?)
Looking up from here, Mikoto's eyes pass over the lantern again, and leaning over, Mikoto unhooks it from the bar. The cheerful LED light in the middle has nothing on the sky. She looks up, and looks up, and - it's only when the sky commands their attention that Mikoto glances back down to push it into Yumi's hands.
PEACE and WARMTH and FRIENDSHIP and LOVE glitter out from the burnished gold paint, and Mikoto concludes: "This belongs here."
She doesn't quite get to telling Yumi precisely what she's trusted her with, but maybe she doesn't have to.
<Pose Tracker> Yumi Ohzora [Infinity Institute (11)] has posed.
"I just might!" Yumi answers the offer of snacks, and indeed she's going to think about it /and only take what she'll actually eat/ becase hey she knows Kyouko. But Mikoto's not the only one who can do snacks. However--
Yumi beams at Eri's fluster. "Aww," she starts, but doesn't keep it going--she looks up to the sky instead of focusing on Kyouko and Eri in the next few moments, but Mikoto gets her attention again. Pretty easily, actually. "Hm?" she starts, and leaaaaans down. It's a lot of leaning. And at her whisper--
"Sure aren't," Yumi singsongs quietly, but not /that/ quietly. But before she moves or goes anywhere, as she starts to stand back up, she blinks--and then Mikoto is handing her something and--
"O-oh..."
Yumi doesn't need to be /told/ exactly what it is, no. She can see it, can see the feelings put into it practically radiate in how it was made...
"That so?" she asks Mikoto, and smiles. "...Yeah." She looks out over the group, "...This is something worth hanging onto."
<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.
Kyouko enjoys just standing there with Eri, their bodies resting against one another, finding a strength and support in each other's upright poise. As Eri leans in, Kyouko leans in with her, and if either were to suddenly vanish, the other would surely fall to the ground. It doesn't last for all that much time, but it doesn't have to, either. There's a confidence that the next such moment surely won't be long, that any interruption of their celebration of each other's company will be fleeting, and thus easily abided.
Kyouko quirks an eyebrow, and follows along with Eri's gaze. It isn't hard to take her meaning, especially given just how prominent the monarch stands above his fiefdom. Nodding gamely, she flashes a grin. "Sure, makes sense to me."
Of course Eri didn't need to ask. Kyouko bends down, hoisting the food into the curl of an arm, and takes Eri's hand with the other.
Kyouko nods to Mikoto. "You're welcome." If anybody's going to scarf down the platter she'd prepared, it would be her, but food's both better off shared, and the one area where Kyouko has the greatest aversion to stinginess. Yumi gets an acknowledgment too, a gracious smile and a nod. Kyouko is less concerned about Yumi taking the lion's share, but as is ever the case, Kyouko always seems to manage to scrounge up something to eat whenever she's in the market, and has learned to trust that she won't go hungry again any time soon.
Hand in hand, she leads the way with Eri to the stairs up the structure. When they reach their summit, and the small tunnel beckoning their way to the slide, she sets the food down, and puts her hands at Eri's waist. Having secured her hostage, she leans in for another kiss, grinning as their foreheads nearly touch. "Going up." Without further warning, she hoists her girlfrield up off her feet, elevating her just high enough that she can scramble atop the king's crown.
Perhaps not the most elegant means of her elevation, but it probably beats tossing her.
<Pose Tracker> Eri Shimanouchi [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed. <SoundTracker> Yakusoku no hai hokago - Nozaki-kun OST - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvSQ2ibkNRw
Eri starts as Mikoto declares that in her defense. The subtlety in Yumi's comment earlier was not lost on her, but it was lost on Mikoto. And she sucks in her upper lip to try to prevent herself from laughing at Mikoto setting the record 'straight' on their relationship to someone who doesn't need it to be.
"I knew it would." Eri replies, with a sort of airy confidence. As Kyouko hoists up the platter and takes her hand.
One step after a time in her Geta, not intending to lose it to playground gravel, Eri comes closer to the monarch. And then as Kyouko puts her arm around her waist, she smiles, "Why thank y-" The word is stolen by a kiss, and Eri hardly minds, applying a certain pressure back.
She's about to make some quip, it can easily be felt by anyone who knows her by now. It is simply her way. But as her forehead touches Kyouko's and her mouth opens for it, Kyouko beats her to the punch.
And Eri squeals in alarm, before she starts laughing, clear and loudly, "My sandals! I'm going to lose-"
Her complaint feels like none at all in that tone. Like she's too enlivened by the moment to actually be grumbling. Squeezing together with her toes and crossing her legs, she wiggles a bit in Kyouko's strong grasp, as she's Princess lifted then hoisted to the tippy top of King Penguin, where she scrambles out of her arms.
Still laughing as she pivots around then half-stands on the crown, holding onto one of the prongs of the crown - she leans over.
It takes her a moment to let her breathing settle and stop giggling, before she says, "Well I was right about one thing..."
She says, as her opposite hand adjusts her hair, leaning her weight so that it looks like she's lounging against the edge of the crown.
"... it's a much better view up here."
The fireworks crackle and boom, flaring their light in the sky. She's not looking at the fireworks though.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
For the most part, Fuu is content to keep watching the fireworks, and to take in the presence of her fellow magical girls, allies and friends.
She does, after a few moments, go over to pick a few snacks from the tray Kyouko brought, and if the red-haired Puella Magi isn't too distracted by Eri, Fuu bows and smiles to her before making her selection. Just three or four little munchies - just what she'll eat quickly.
There are points when the show, such as it is, in the park is nearly as spectacular as the fireworks themselves, and at least as dazzling to look at.
<Pose Tracker> Mikoto Minagi [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Mikoto hums with certainty as Yumi comprehends what Mikoto has surely just now taught her.
(She doesn't catch Eri trying not to laugh.)
Sparkle spark go the fireworks, as Mikoto looks up; but there's time enough for her to glance aside, as Yumi realises what she's pushed into her hands. The warmth of her smile here is measured in lumens, though Mikoto, still working through her science backlog, couldn't name the particulars of the conversion. "Yup," she agrees, happily.
Kyouko's method of Eri propulsion is entirely direct, and even if Mikoto is /making some vague attempt/ to give them ROMANSU PRIVACY, she can't help but have her attention drawn over as Eri squeals about her sandals.
"It's okay!" Mikoto chirps, as she summarily plonks herself down beside the jungle gym - sword-case all aclatter down at her side - and summarily tosses her zori sandals over her head. They go flying over her head. One gets stuck at the top of the bars.
Mikoto streeetches long in the sand of the park, propping her head up on the side of Miroku's case, and looks up at the fireworks from below.
Perhaps she's not just demonstrating that it's okay to go barefoot. After all, some amongst them might have... problems climbing up. Toes wriggling, Mikoto falls into companionable silence as she watches the sparkle and glitter above.
<Pose Tracker> Kyouko Sakura [None] has posed.
Kyouko smiles to Fuu, polite and precise in her selections of the offered snacks, returning her bow in kind. It isn't typically Kyouko's style, but she's learned that it goes a long way when she matches another person's energy if there's no reason not to. The snacks are coming with her though, and while she's not trying to discourage anybody from coming up and claiming some from where she and Eri will make their temporary nest, she's not trying to encourage it either. Settling the matter now is best for all involved.
Eri laughs with concern for her shoes, and Kyouko laughs with her. After all she'd been through, the thought that Eri would bemoan a bare foot for a minute tops is sweetly absurd, but of course it isn't really about that. Kyouko managed to take her by surprise, which always gives the mischevious miscreant a thrill of pleasure.
She's strong. For all the time that Kyouko spends outside of school, not all of it is consumed in arcades or restaurants. She doesn't strain or rush to get Eri where she's going, and enjoys being able to lift her up with such ease. Only when Eri has secured her position up top does she ease her grip.
Eri speaks, and Kyouko cants her head to the side. "Oh yeah? Guess I better see for myself." She smiles wide. Up above her, Eri peers down with so much peace and warmth and joy and...ease. Relaxation, comfort. Kyouko still remembers that day at the church in the forest, a day which would still be so much more painful if not for moments like this, of Eri smiling at her, blanketed by the night sky and surrounded by a corona of shimmering fireworks.
Holding the tray up with an extended hand, Kyouko reaches up to the top of the King's head with her other arm, and neatly vaults herself up, scrambling somewhat, but not dropping a single morsel. Sighing in soft contentment (and a fair sliver of relief), she settles down, and sets the tray on her lap, unwilling to let it get between the two of them as they enjoy the rest of the show.
"Look how far we've come, Eri-chan.."
Leaning over, she kisses Eri again, kisses her like she knows how. Kisses her in no hurry to stop, or to move on to the next moment. They've arrived at their moment, and at this moment they'll stay.
