2019-10-12 - Tanabata Planetarium Trip 1
| Tanabata Planetarium Trip 1 | |
|---|---|
| Summary: It's Tanabata, the Star Festival, and accordingly time to make a wish. The Sister Schools send interested students to a celebration hosted at the local planetarium. | |
| Who: Kasagami Araki, Chibi-Usa Tsukino, Hotaru Tomoe, Fuu Hououji, Rei Hino, Usagi Tsukino | |
| Where: Cosmos Planetarium Tokyo, Shibuya | |
| OOC - IC Date: 10/12/2019 - 07-07-2015 | |
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
There are lots of ways to celebrate Tanabata. There are festivals -- though since it's a Tuesday, it's been postponed to the weekend (that is, the JULY one -- the original date of Tanabata is not based on the Gregorian calendar, and the biggest Tanabata Festival, on Sendai Hill, is in August every year for that reason). But the Star Festival is a perfect opportunity to LOOK AT THE STARS, and the Cosmo Planetarium in Shibuya has decided to put on a show retelling the origins of the holiday. And they've booked a special guest to be the narrator today, who agreed to the job in exchange for free tickets for Sister Schools students.
But just because it's a weeknight doesn't mean that OTHER rituals can't be held, and someone has turned the front of the huge, cream-colored building into celebration central. The seven traditional types of decoration are all on display:
- Paper strips ~ tanzaku: handwritten wishes, symbolizing a thank you to the Earth
- Paper cranes ~ orizuru: origami decorations, symbolizing long life
- Purses ~ kinchaku: massive paper constructions, symbolizing good fortune in business
- Nets ~ toami: woven paper streamers, symbolizing good fortune in fishing
- Trash bags ~ kuzukago: decorative paper sacks, representing a wish for cleanliness
- Streamers ~ fukinagashi: a paper tubular streamer, symbolizing good fortune in weaving
- Ball ~ kusudama: an ornamental paper ball, modeled after the dahlia flower.
And the first two both have CREATION STATIONS. Kids are milling around, making cranes out of any number of colors of paper, or writing down this year's wish on a tanzaku and hanging it on the massive pillar of bamboo -- one big pillar, many smaller branches, bundled together -- which has been set up as the centerpiece of the plaza.
The show doesn't start for a good half hour (maybe more, if the special guest, who has yet to arrive, is late). There's plenty of time to meet up with friends, admire the decorations, and add a few more.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
The Star Festival has a bit of a pull on Kasagami Araki this year. Not because she particularly seeks guidance by starlight, but rather the things that come with the festival itself are calling to her. Namely, wishes, and by extension the dreams that they represent. Kassie has enough worries, dreams, and wishes alike that she's a bit stuck.
Thus the young woman is clad in a black kimono emblazoned with a red sun for the festival. Instead of tabi, her usual boots scuffle at the ground before one particular papercraft Creation Station (tm) as she has one hand on her hip. Ever-present coat on her shoulders despite some semblence of dressing up for the festival, she casts a bit of a shadow over some of the younger students that might join her. She has a red tanzaku in front of her.
And the Duelist is clicking a pen constantly as she eyes the blank red strips of paper in front of her. Frustration is clear in her features. One or two 'failed' tanzaku are balled up inside of her coat pockets.
Kassie gently pats the kinchaku she's brought. That wish, at least, is easy to put words to. Others not so much. She's putting writing implement to parchment again in one more try even as she hesitates. Good eye occasionally peeks for those she knows, and perhaps, inspiration!
<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Did someone say stars? Did someone say festival? Did someone say... arts and crafts???
There are so many reasons that Chibi-Usa is on board for this. She has a lot of good memories of the stars, after all, nevermind the particular heavenly bodies with names on them familiar to her...
And more to the point, has someone perfect to bring!! Even if, technically, it might involve a little bit of sneaking...
So Chibi-Usa arrives, not alone, to meet back up with Usagi again properly, among others. Where'd she run off to?? well, they probably know. Probably. But the pink-haired girl looks brightly to the girl whose hand she's holding, "Aaah, isn't it all so pretty, Hotaru-chan? And we haven't even started yet!"
A beat, "The planetarium here is supposed to be really nice..." And, Chibi-Usa thinks, entirely up Hotaru's alley. It's the best plan!!
Usagi waves over to Rei, too, and peers at the intent girl in the black kimono. She's trying clearly so hard...!
The bright red eyes of a certain Small Lady would certainly be inspiring to someone Kasagami knows...
"So um, do you want to write down a wish...?" she asks the girl near her.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
It's getting to be the height of summer -- it's going to get hotter, probably, over the next few weeks, but not by much.
That hasn't stopped Hotaru from coming out in an obviously-borrowed winter coat. The same one she usually wears, dark forest green with a big yellow collar. A man's coat, she swims in it, hands invisible beneath the dangling sleeves, legs emerging from the bottom almost comically skinny. And today she apparently roasts in it too; her too-pale skin is substantially more flushed and glistening than usual.
Or maybe she's pink because she's worried.
"I don't know if I should be here," she squirms at Chibi-Usa's side, breathy undertone pitched soft to avoid causing a scene. "Papa... well, Kaori-san was really upset last time I went out."
But, as they arrive, and are engulfed by the hustle and bustle of celebration, her big dark eyes can't help but shine.
This IS entirely up her alley. Both the planetarium itself, and this sort of activity, which she's rarely been allowed to participate in.
That, indeed, she probably isn't supposed to be participating in today.
"Okay," she tells her best friend, as to writing down wishes, and places her slender (but longer) hand in Chibi-Usa's pinker, chubbier one, allowing her to tow them towards the table. They wind up beside Kasagami, whose kimono Hotaru obviously admires a great deal. She's too shy to say so, however.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
It's the afternoon of Tanabata proper, at least, which is enough of a reason for the Hououji family to attend the festivities that are available, so Fuu is dolled up in her yukata (of course it's green), and taking some time at the moment to help fold cranes while she thinks thoroughly about her wish for a tanzaku. Fuu's big sister Kuu, by contrast, is focused on helping the younger children (mostly elementary schoolers). And their parents are ... somewhere around.
Fuu finishes the last crease of her latest orizuru, and studies the outcome, nodding contentedly. "Kuu-neesan, do you need me to get a slip of paper for your wish?" she asks.
"I took care of mine already," Kuu smiles at her younger sister. "You go ahead, and do take time to have fun."
Fuu looks ever so slightly flustered at that, but bows her head briefly before heading over to the tanzaku table. She actually has quite a few wishes, but she's only going to write one down ...
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Rei may have delegated an entire section of Hikawa's Tanabata preparation off to Yuuichiro so she could fulfill one particular girl's wish -- something which happens with tragic regularity, given the closeness of Usagi's birthday and the day Tokyo has decided on celebrating this festival -- but that doesn't mean she doesn't have a particular fondness for this specific celebration. This celestial tale...
Well, Rei has always had a bit of affection for space. It's perfectly normal. Space is fascinating to all girls with a curiosity for the unknown.
She's in the red and white which marks her as a shrine maiden of Hikawa, which, of course, means she's happy to provide assistance to any of the children who look uncertain about how to go about things. "Here," she tells one frustrated boy, knelt down to eye level as she demonstrates, "try folding it like this, okay? Why don't you try..?" Face all ascrunch in concentration, he tries her suggestions... and finds a little paper crane soon takes shape in his hands. "See, you're great at this!" Rei smiles, as he laughs happily.
There are, of course, many people in need of guidance on the eve of these arts and crafts, but Rei is only one miko, after all.
"Ah," she says, straightening up as she sees a particular iconic wave, "please excuse me." Smiling, she hurries over to her friends at the table of wishes -- the two young girls, and Kasagami, too. "Chibi-Usa-chan, Hotaru-chan! It's so good to see you here! And you're working hard too, right, Kasagami-san..?" No -chan, on that; it's complicated, she's still working it out. She waves to Fuu, too, seeing her approach, and considers the tanzaku paper.
"Let's give our wishes in thanks to the earth, okay?" With a particular smile to Chibi-Usa, who knows just how much the earth has given them, recently.
She picks up a pen -- nice, festive red ink, because of course she'd choose something this flashy -- and doesn't even hesitate in writing what she writes, though a hand covers it to make sure no one can peek.
We will not crumble
bring us hope for these warm days.
For our bright future!
Wind back the clock, and you'll find Rei in front of a workbook, scowling deeply as she tears out page after page of unacceptable and unworthy wishes.
But that was last night, and this is now, and right now Rei doesn't even hesitate as she finishes up her wish. It's like she doesn't even need to think about it..!
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Just like every year Usagi Tsukino makes an earnest attempt at festive crafts for Tanabata!
Look upon her works ye glamorous and despair.
Her Fukinagashi looks like a misshapen jellyfish. Her Kinchaku pouch when she tried to pull up the drawstring fell to pieces.
Let's not even talk about what her Kusudama looks like after. Future archaeologists are going to be scratching their heads over it.
If Rei Hotaru or Chibi-Usa look closely they will be able to find Usagi simply by in the wake of arts and crafts decimation.
Eventually - whether it's from embarrassment or defeat, she had moved over to the Tanzaku table.
Folding the paper in half unevenly, she punched a hole for the string.
When it came to writing the wish though...
Usagi Tsukino finds herself stuck with a white to the paper. It hasn't moved.
This year the idea of a wish just feels extra important, and so she hasn't rushed. She's kept her marker stuck against it..
Don't tell me what she did today. She made a far greater sacrifice than an afternoon's labor. We, the Outer Senshi will honor that. After she is gone.
Do you see the darkness in our future? Hidden inside of pure hearts are talismans. If they are ever brought together, they will create that grail - they will create something that will destroy all we have ever known.
Stay clear, Sailor Moon. Please. For all our sakes. Fate has no care for hope.
It's hard to say what she's thinking as she looks up at the sound of Chibi-Usa and Hotaru's voices. It's easy to mistake her for being an empty headed airhead - not that either would - although many might. Especially with that smile that seems like it has not a care in the world.
Look at her eyes though. They'll tell a different story.
...It's okay if something happens to me. Someone like me should never have been born. So -- please!
Her wrist starts to move. The characters for 'I wish' start to take form on the right side of the paper, slowly moving down. Her handwriting inexpert, sloppy.
What does being upset do but impose your feelings on other people? You'd rather I just suffered alone? I did that for thousands of years!
It's a slow, deliberate process. It's hard to imagine her concentration ever being more focused than in these few moments of writing it.
'I wish everyone who suffers from a destiny decided during the Silver Millenium finds happiness.'
She marks it with Usagi Tsukino at the bottom corner. Then slips the tie through the hole, winding it up. Pressing it against her chest, she smiles at the thought of hanging it upon the bamboo.
Now finished, she comes up behind Rei Hino. "Noone is a hard worker by the standard you set Rei-chan." It's a light tease. One which also makes Usagi feel pretty good in general. If Rei is the gold standard then one can't feel as bad when one falls short. "You've been all over today. Just like me."
The difference in the experience of 'all over' is pretty vast.
"I have mine. It's a good one."
She says with the tone of a first year who wrote a wish for more cake on her Tanzaku slip.
Leaning in, she whispers towards Hotaru and Chibi-Usa, "Are you two having a good time? If you need any help don't hesitate to ask Usagi-neechan."
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
A planetarium employee is sitting at each table. The one at the tanzaku table -- a woman with glasses and a long braid -- pushes slips towards all comers as they approach. The one at the origami crane table has the opposite duty; as cranes are completed, a man with a thin, horsey face and a red-streaked mullet skillfully adds them to his string. Both of them are in good spirits, though there's a slight uneasiness to them also. They regularly turn to look at the street, as though they're expecting somebody.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Click click click click!
Gnaw. Right on the pen clicker. Nope, this isn't working. Kassie perks up, and quickly yanks pen from mouth with a minimum of chew marks. She's being watched! She has to represent the Student Council, even now!
A smile is plastered onto her face, Kasagami sets herself to an even mix of confidence and welcome in her stance. One arm back on the hip then she's beaming white teeth to first the duo of Chibi-Usa and Hotaru. The keen eyed might catch that smile flicker upon seeing Hotaru.
It's Chibi-Usa's presence that keeps her friendly here. Or, rather, the affection that her beloved has for the young girl. By now the two girls showing up together doesn't quite surprise. It does worry however.
"...Who would have thought that putting the heart into words would be so difficult? Don't let my dithering get in the way." Smile, first to Chibs, then to Hotaru. She slides aside a step or two. She blinks, and then smirks as she starts to write along three seperate strips of paper.
Grant success to my ambitions.
Safety and warmth to my friends.
Glory to my blade, reforged by my hardships.
Kassie doesn't bother with a poem per se, just her feelings. They're then tucked very gently into a pocket until she can get over to the bamboo to hang them up.
Kassie offers a real grin as Rei rushes over to the table. The Duelist is far less certain in what to call the dark haired miko.
"As your wonderful Student Council Secretary, hard work is in my blood! The only reason Ohtori hasn't fallen apart is because of my accuracy and swift pen!" Boasts the young woman, playing herself up on the spot.
Fuu gets a wave as well, though Usagi and her words catch Kassie for the moment. "There's no such thing as a bad wish. As long as it's for family or the future." Mutters Kasagami.
<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Getting to go here after school is even better! Chibi-Usa knows Hotaru is kind of worried... and definitely hot... but she's hoping the indoors will help and the worry will abate, because, "A planetarium is educational! Anybody would understand a girl looking at the stars..."
Chibi-Usa smiles at that look in Hotaru's eye--and 'okay' is there, and Chibi-Usa squeezes her friend's hand and leads along towards the table. Next to Kasagami, she chimes in, "It's okay," Chibi-Usa says then to Kasagami, , "words are hard..."
"Rei-chan!" Chibi-Usa greets cheerfully, and does know. "...Yeah!" She remembers why they would; she remembers freshly enough that it's clear, even. And as she approaches the table, and starts to pick up supplies--she has to reaaach a little but only a little, still small for her age--and... bites her lip. Here, Usagi gets Chibi-Usa's attention. It's obvious that she's preoccupied, or happy with Hotaru, from the simple fact that she neglects the chance to needle Usagi about how low a standard she sets when it comes to hard work. Instead--
"Mm-hm!" Chibi-Usa says to Usagi quietly, and glances to Hotaru with another smile.
But with the slip handed to her, Chibi-Usa smiles at the braided woman and then bites her lip looking down again. She stares down at the page, for a while. There are things she wants, and...
...And there are things she should wish for instead, and...
Then pause. "...Can you be too hardworking?" Chibi-Usa wonders a little suspiciously.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Hotaru is an observant child indeed, and quickly looks away from Kasagami. Her face disappears behind the spiderweb-fine curtain of her bangs and hair. She focuses on the others instead, nervously, and her smile that returns Chibi-Usa's is now a bit more cautious.
"Um, good afternoon, Hino-san, Tsukino-san," she replies, small voiced. When Rei leads them in something like a prayer, she dutifully clasps her hands. "Yes, it's very beautiful here..."
Then she turns to regard the paper with enormous solemnity. Side-by-side with her best friend, she fails to write anything down.
Chibi-Usa's question comes as something of a relief. Her head lifts, eager for the distraction, though her seriousness hasn't left her.
"I think so," she offers quietly. "Papa is always working too hard..."
She hesitates, then backpedals. "Of course, I know he's doing important work, it's only natural that he'd be very busy." The voice of a girl convincing herself that something is true.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Rather than merely waving back to Kasagami, Fuu offers the Ohtori student council head a polite and formal bow as she approaches, followed by the words, "Good afternoon, Kasagami-san," as she reaches the table. A bow is offered to Chibi-Usa and Hotaru as well, and then Fuu takes up pen and paper. She hadn't quite decided on her wish yet, but ...
May my game do well at Comiket
And may my friends and family be well and happy.
It's amazing what you can narrow things down to when you actually have a pen and a small slip of paper to work with. She doesn't bother signing her wish; the gods will know whose it is, she's sure.
Fuu does notice the planetarium's female employee taking another look at the street, and slips her phone out to double-check what time it is. The phone is just as quickly stashed away again, though, as she nods belated thanks to the lady behind the table, and heads towards the bamboo arrangement to hang her wish.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
Rei hangs up her wish, only to find herself accosted from behind by one Usagi Tsukino, who she has not been helping in any of the stands she's been to. It's not, particularly, a slight -- it's just that Usagi isn't an elementary-schooler, and helping her would send a much different message.
"And what standards would you meet, Usagi?" Rei teases right back, as the graceful and dignified shrine maiden... sticks out her tongue at her fellow student.
She's still a teenage girl, apparently.
Rei waves a hand to dismiss the jab, smiling. "I'm sure it's good," she says, and doesn't guess at what it is. Even when Kasagami all but names what she'd wish for: "That's right! It's expressing your feelings to the earth -- that's what's important!" But even though she encourages them like that, reinforcing Chibi-Usa's own motivational words, she still spent so much time trying to think of how to phrase hers...
Maybe Chibi-Usa's question is entirely too pertinent.
Before Rei can offer her amazing and completely well-founded opinions on the virtues of hard work, though, Hotaru speaks up. Rei blinks, mouth closing from where she was about to say something entirely self-assured. "Ah... maybe you're right, Hotaru-chan," she offers, instead. "That's a lot of work, isn't it..?"
Definitely walking back the brave insistence that there's no such thing as working too hard when she's in front of this girl. Rei Hino: 1, the foot in Rei Hino's mouth: 0.
(That's not the actual score and everyone knows it.)
"But I'm glad you could come, in any case," Rei smiles. "Even if he's busy, we're always happy to see you, Hotaru-chan."
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
"I have standards!" Usagi fires back at Rei with her tongue, crossing her arms over her slip, now it might be unclear what exactly she has standards about. "High standards! You just have impossible ones."
Usagi actually whispers to Rei as Kasagami says hard work is in her blood. And immediately undermines her statement about saying she has high standards. "Is that what I've been doing wrong? I just was born with the wrong blood?" ... Does Usagi Tsukino actually believe blood type can determine some things? Absolutely.
Perhaps she's wondering if she should get a transfusion from Ami Mizuno and Rei Hino both.
"Good-!" Usagi simply says back at Chibi-Usa's assent, before stepping back. She wants to offer the two their private friendship time after all.
However, just like Rei she overhears Hotaru's comment about her father.
"Hmm."
It's nothing unusual that comment. Her own father works so often in his own job that the two barely talk.
Why does she get the feeling it's different for Hotaru though?
She doesn't think about it too hard though - deciding on Rei's reaction that a change of subject is in order. As she teasingly confides to Chibi-Usa and Hotaru. "We always know when Rei-chan has been overdoing it because she falls asleep when she wasn't trying to."
She then leans in and whispers to the pair with a cupped hand as if she were sharing a secret, "Whenever she does I write it down. I can show you both the list one day if you want."
She doesn't take pictures though. That'd be mean.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
Fuu's phone indicates that it is not too soon to head inside to find seats, but also far from necessary; there's still plenty of time. The bamboo she approaches is positively REPLETE with wishes. There must be hundreds, maybe more, rainbows and rainbows worth of little hung papers.
The man at the origami table smiles as he ties off a thousandth donated crane, and hefts his huge bundle, walking past the group to stand next to the younger Hououji sister. Thoughtfully he looks for the perfect place to hang his papery burden.
"Hey," the woman at the wish-writing table calls over to him, "Do you hear that?"
"What?" he asks, cocking an ear and trying to focus past the happy babble they're surrounded by.
...
"Never mind, musta imagined it," she shrugs, and goes back to passing out slips.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Not focusing on Hotaru even as the girl looks away sets Kasagami a little easiertruth be told. It's a box of worries. But at least here she can help keep an eye on the girl. She likes to think she's helping out Pluto in that regard.
As for chibs? Well, the Duelist is happy to take the opposite tact here. "Only by our own efforts will the flowers of our ambitions bloom!" Comes Kassie, digging into her well of enthusiasm and just a touch of volume for emphasis. She clenches a fist, thankfully free of paper.
"Fuu-chan! Are you wishing to take over all of Akihabara with your games this year?" Comes the girl with a bit of a tease for the Wind Knight. Her eyes sparkle with encouragement!
When Hotaru openly says her father works too much though, the girl actually deflates some. She doesn't say anything. Rei has more than got that angle covered. This time when she looks? There's just a little guilt in her eyes here. And maybe pity.
Usagi-shaped distractions help. Her grin becomes cheshire in an instant. Leeeean over to Usagi conspiratorially.
"That's right. Therefore we're going to have to get you a blood transfusion! A drop of my blood might work, plus some cayenne and ink from a school teacher's desk! Oh, and a week of detention for the homework you forgot about from last week." Wink!
Kassie might not actually know if Usagi is missing any homework. But she can at least add in a bit of good old fashioned paranoia.
Then the young woman is over to the bamboo. She eyes the thing, and then reaches as high as she can. Right into the tips of her boots with paper in hand. Riiight on the tips.
A King's dreams must be the highest! Or so she tells herself.
<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
Super pretty!! And... And... Chibi-Usa still doesn't write anything at first. Instead, she looks at Hotaru at the question, and doesn't even blink at the earnest answer--well, metaphorically. Physically she does, tilting her head and then--oh. Oh, of course she's backpedaling...
"...It's hard, not to get to see your dad," Chibi-Usa agrees anyway, softly. Sure, it might be natural that he's busy... But it's still true, isn't it?
"Our own efforts, huh?" Chibi-Usa repeats, thinking about it. But... Uh--
It's for the best that Chibi-Usa kind of misses the blood transfusion part, watching Fuu take her wish over. The older girl has already finished...!
Rei is sympathetic about the work. She's glad of that. "That's right," Chibi-Usa agrees with Rei, entirely missing anything weird happening with boxes or employees, as instead--
"Whaat," Chibi-Usa tells Usagi. "That's a metaphor! You know we have the same blood type and I can work hard, you're just--" Pause. Glance at Hotaru. "...I mean--Homework doesn't literally go in your blood!" Well, Usagi is being nice. And besides--
"Hmmmm, I guess you'd have the leisure time, huhhh usagi?"
She seems amused in any case, as she looks back to her wish, and back to Hotaru, and... "Um..." She bites her lip. "...Picking just one is hard..."
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Hotaru swallows as she becomes the center of attention. All those looks, with varying degrees of pity, are a pretty heavy burden to bear, and her head sinks between her shoulders. She blinks at Usagi's joke, and it isn't entirely clear whether or not she understands it as such; she isn't a HUMORLESS girl but she is an extremely credulous one.
"N-no, that's none of our business," she murmurs. They don't need to see any lists.
By the time the conversation has fully moved past her, she has scooted a little bit closer to Chibi-Usa on the bench. She drags her slip of paper along with her, and it catches on a splinter and tears. Not completely in half, just a skinny tendril's worth of rip along the upper third.
It doesn't seem to bother her. Much. She smoothes the paper with only slightly shaky hands. Then she reaches out and picks up an abandoned pen.
Once again she affords her empty (and now damaged) paper with a too-serious look.
"You have lots of wishes...?" she murmurs to her best friend.
Then she has The Idea, and it brings light -- though not warmth -- to her void-spectrum eyes. Still, there's a small, earnest smile on her lips, as she CLICKs that pen into readiness, and starts to write.
She has old lady handwriting. Spidery-thin, delicate as homemade lace. Intricate. Really, it doesn't suit her appearance at all, though that very sort of weird juxtaposition isn't so unusual for her.
I wish for Chibi-Usa's parents to be saved, she writes, having to finish the sentence in progressively smaller letters in order to avoid the damaged part of the slip.
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
"Well, not *all* of Akihabara," Fuu demurs, smiling at Kasagami. "If it sells well enough at Comiket to warrant additional copies at Toranoana or Gamers, I'd be content. And a little surprised," she admits.
And while KAsagami is stretching and straining to tie her wish as high on the bamboo as possible, Fuu leans in to hang her own tanzaku on a branch that she *doesn't* have to stretch to reach.
The brief exchange between the two planetarium employees does get Fuu to strain her ears a little, wondering what they might have heard. She could very well have missed it by the time she tries, though; her curiosity will have to remain unsated.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"You were born with the wrong brain, Usagi," Rei rolls her eyes as she whispers that comment to one of her dearest friends. "No amount of ink or blood will save you!"
She looks aside, to Kasagami, then, raising a brow: "But I'm surprised you'd invoke detention when I heard you were staying back late not too long ago, Kasagami-san..." Of course, as something she's heard, it's an insinuation automatically defended from all invocation of facts. Rumours run wild, in Ohtori, and perhaps this is one of the more recent ones..?!
How simply awful!
But as much as she criticises Usagi, there's a difference in their approaches which suggests Usagi has a different kind of savviness, and Rei picks up on Usagi backing off from Hotaru and turns her attention back to Usagi instead. "Now hold on just one second," Rei huffs, folding her arms. "You're the one who takes all the impromptu naps. Don't project on the wonderful Rei-chan!"
Imagine having a healthy enough ego to refer to yourself in the third person with such confidence.
Don't imagine a bull charging a red flag flashed right in front of a yawning canyon.
Rei would never fall for an obvious trap like that..!
But Hotaru, at least, says it's none of their business. "I'm sure your wish will come true!" Rei enthuses, to Fuu, encouraging again. It's amazing how she can switch between snarking and supportiveness like that. It's just one of Rei Hino's many skills.
Hearing Chibi-Usa's uncertainty, though, brings Rei's attention back to the pair of younger girls, after focusing on her other friends. "It can be pretty hard," she sympathises, "but I bet you'll make a great wish!" Here she pauses, as she looks to the motions Hotaru makes, only to find her writing down her own wish.
She doesn't mean to look at it, it's just that her handwriting is so surprising for someone her age that it draws the eye...
Rei's cheeks colour slightly, and she looks back to Chibi-Usa, smiling. "Right! We're all wishing together, so we're covering lots of wishes, aren't we? We'll all do our best!" Like a wish for the sake of someone else --
-- Hotaru-chan is a sweet girl, Rei thinks, and tries not to call too much attention to her as she thinks of her.
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
"You can't give me detention. I don't go to your school." Usagi says cheerfully at Kasagami - as someone who has actually looked up the interschool rules specifically in the case of Kasagami trying to punish her, "Besides who needs royal blood? Definitely not me!"
She in no way qualifies what her statement on royal blood means. "Don't be mean Rei-chan! My brain is great! Just ask Minako-chan! She tells me all the time that she wishes she could pick my brain for all sorts of things!"
Usagi Tsukino blink blinks at Chibi-Usa though saying they have the same blood type. "We do?" Usagi's pointer finger trails between Chibi-Usa to back to herself, her expression confused.
"Wait how do you even know that? I don't even know my Blood Type!"
It's like she's moments away from saying 'Chibi-Usa!' and starting a fight. However - Chibi-Usa's next comment perhaps defuses it.
"Well when it comes to Rei-chan I make time."
Usagi however says 'the wonderful Rei-chan' with a sarcastically cutesy tone modulation, "I mean to take all those naps."
However - Hotaru says it's none of their business. And Usagi seems to take that in sort of good-natured stride. "She's letting you off the hook Rei-chan! Luck-y~"
Chibi-Usa sounds uncertain though, and Usagi certainly becomes a little more serious, her smile warm as she leans in, hands behind her back as she looks over Chibi-Usa's work. "It's hard because you're really thoughtful right?" Almost immediately she adds, "Just don't overthink it. Just go back to what really matters to you - and it'll be really easy I bet."
Straightening back up, she finds herself looking at the little tear in Hotaru's slip.
Rather than thinking it was bad luck, or a curse, she simply interprets it as Hotaru being a little clumsy. If she is, she's in good company, as Usagi knows what it's like to be clumsy.
Given Hotaru's earlier statement of Usagi's joke being 'None of our business' she makes sure her eyes stray before she actually looks at the text. Usagi may be nosey but she doesn't want Hotaru to know that she is.
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
There are a ton of wishes right next to those thousand cranes. It isn't considered rude to look at other peoples' slips, once they're hung and, therefore, anonymous.
Here are a few examples not far from Fuu and Kasagami:
I want to be a pastry chef
I want to own a flower shop
BETTER GRADES
I wish my dad would not fart in public
His cranes tied off, the employee wanders back over to his counterpart at the wishing table.
"What do we do if he's a no-show?" he asks her.
She shrugs. "Do you remember the story of orihime?"
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Kassie's face screws up a bit towards Fuu! "Well, I guess it's a start! Don't forget to expand! And sequels! Everyone loves sequels, right!?" Nod nod nod!
Twitch! Rei invokes the latest rumors! Luckily the Duelist has a counter to this. Arms cross, and she raises her head just a touch proudly!
"I will have you know it's all in the pursuit of very important Student Council Business! I'm not the sort to be delinquent in studies, from blade to social!" She just may happen to like the blade most of all! Even if it's a bit harder to get said studying in, what with her ouster from the kendo club!
Huffff. Usagi too gets a peer! "Yet! ...Actually no, nevermind, even I have limits to how many people I can foist detentions on. It's more than even a King can bear, sentencing more than one schools' inhabitants to the oubliette of math homework is just cruel!" Comes Kassie, hand to her heart and leaning back extra-dramatically. Then she just laughs, smiling. She's proud of heself for that one.
Then she's eyeing others' wishes. Kasagami can't help but feel just a little exposed for putting such a strange and grandiose trio of wishes for the earth to devour up there.
At least she's not alone in odd wishes.
<Pose Tracker> Chibi-Usa Tsukino [Juuban Public School (5)] has posed.
See??? Hotaru's nice. They don't need to see the lists! ...Chibi-Usa might've asked to see the lists about Usagi. Then again, maybe not. Still, sitting by Chibi-Usa, she glances at the rip--but smiels when it seems okay. But then...
"Mm," Chibi-Usa answers. "It sounds kinda greedy, huh? But... Well, you know..." Hotaru does, of course. At least some of it. And--she makes that clear, even, as she suddenly shows light in her eyes, smiling--
"Oh...!" Chibi-Usa does not seem to think of people looking. She doesn't seem to imagine anything like that for now. Instead--
She hears the advice, and... Making time. Being thoughtful. And what matters? "But... a lot of things matter..." She thinks, and--she looks at Hotaru, and starts writing earnestly.
I wish that I won't have to leave Hotaru-chan, Chibi-Usa writes then, and glances to the side a little shyly--but as tiny as she is, that's obvious, too.
"...Usagi is good at napping," Chibi-Usa is forced to admit, though there's something awfully backhanded about it, in fact. "We'll... all do our best," she says. "Yeah..."
Usagi could get detention easily. And--wait. ....Talk of brain picking goes away--
"Whaaat? You don't even know that? What teenage girl doesn't know her own blood type???" Chibi-Usa looks very, very skeptical. "I asked Ikuko-mama!"
Chibi-Usa, perhaps, is the ultimate endorsement of the concept of a sequel, really.
"...Wouldn't they normally do math homework anyway?" Chibi-Usa wonders of Kasagami, innocent in the ways of detention, because she's a good bun.
<Pose Tracker> Hotaru Tomoe [Infinity Institute (7)] has posed.
Hotaru is innocent to the hungry eyes of other people. Instead, with fairly clever fingers, she ties a thread through the hole punched at the end -- then does Chibi-Usa's, with a sort of casual intimacy that she doesn't really realize until after it's too late and already done. Handling someone else's wish just like that... is something done by people really close to each other, huh?
She pinkens a little again, only this time maybe it isn't the heat, and gently gives her best friend back her slip.
"Let's... go hang them?" she suggests, though she pauses about halfway up to join Chibi-Usa in being curious about detention. Like her counterpart, she knows nothing of the delinquent world. However, she carefully limits her wide-eyed staring to Usagi and Rei, and carefully AVOIDS staring at Kasagami. When her eyes flick in the suspicious girl's direction, they never rise higher than her magnificent boots (which are great, to be sure; Hotaru wants to own boots like that someday).
<Pose Tracker> Fuu Hououji [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.
Fuu gives Kasagami a very wry look, "Maybe after I finish high school I can work on a follow-up game. And the Infinity Computer Club *does* have other projects they'd like to bring to fruition; it's not fair to them if I hog all their resources for my own pet project ..."
The mention of 'detentions' - from Kasagami of all people - prompts a rather different sort of gaze directed at her from behind Fuu's glases. "Are you sure you're allowed to inflict punishments on non-Ohtori students?" she points out, then looks at Usagi, smiling reassuringly. "Then again, as long as you don't do anything against the rules on Ohtori's campus, you'd probably be okay ... from Ohtori, at least. That wouldn't protect you if Juban faculty had to come down on you."
Fuu meanders back to the crane-folding table; she wouldn't mind contributing to the next thousand, especially while the guest lecturer still seems to be stuck in traffic somewhere. Or something ... hopefully nothing major.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.
"How do you not know your blood type?!" Rei exclaims, in concert with Chibi-Usa, as Usagi reveals her ignorance. "Everyone knows that!" Well, maybe Rei knows that.
"Oh, sure," she asides to Usagi, on the topic of her naps, "it's sooo much better when you do it on purpose." But, luckily, Hotaru lets her off the hook. Or Usagi decides that Hotaru has let her off the hook. Either way.
One good turn deserves another: she's at least willing to let Kasagami off the hook, too, once she's given her reprimand. She waves a hand, smiling. "It must have been important, huh?" Having made her point, she saves face for Kasagami. This is the way of Ohtori. It is utterly impenetrable.
So it's probably a good thing their Student Council can't punish people from other schools. Fuu's here to express her scepticism about Kasagami's reach, so Rei at least doesn't have to address that. But the younger girls amongst them ask about homework done in detention -- or, well, Chibi-Usa asks, but Rei can see that Hotaru is curious, too. "I wouldn't know much about detention," she bold-facedly lies, though in her defence she had very good reasons for falling asleep in class which she will gladly produce at a time somewhere between shortly and never, "but teachers usually want you to make up the work you've missed in class for whatever reason you might have. Tests you couldn't finish, or homework you didn't hand in... well, for most people, that's maths homework."
Rei, personally, has to do more catch-up with social studies.
Not that she would ever suffer detention.
<Pose Tracker> Kasagami Araki [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.
Kassie waves her hand vaguely, gesticulating as she notes to Chibi-usa! "Extra math! Tests even! Extra pain for students who aren't diligant, and stain the honor of their school! Truly shameful! You're obviously a good student though." Nod nod nod!
She's suspiciously silent about reach. Nevermind it's not even her job anymore! Nope, that's drowning in infinite amounts of paperwork. And having simply amazing pens that are worth more than many people's houses.
Those fancy boots find Kasagami mostly floating between booths, eyeing all the many beautiful creations. When Rei helps her out though? She smiles!
"As important as wishes, Rei-chan!" She offers very quickly. There's a thankful look shot Rei's way. Then she's experimentally doing a bit of crane folding. Hmmm, this might help her year's wish count!
<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (10)] has posed.
Usagi doesn't add onto her advice to Chibi-Usa. Chibi-Usa always gives her the impression of a precocious kid who just has a big heart and because she does just worries herself into the ground about things - trying to say more would perhaps just give her more to worry about.
Instead she just looks as proud as if Chibi-Usa was her own child when she does write a wish relating to Hotaru Tomoe.
"What you meant to say is the best at napping."
Usagi actually takes that as a point of pride.
"What elementary school kid does know their blood type!?" She immediately gets distracted from Chibi-Usa by Rei, "Not everyone does Rei-chan!" She taps her pointer fingers together, her Tanabata slip still hanging between two fingers, "I don't like getting my blood drawn."
Usagi's reply to Kasagami contrasts with Chibi-Usa's innocent remark on the nature of detention- "If it's too cruel then don't do it." Usagi advises Kasagami with her own thoughts on the matter before she blinks as Fuu tries to reassure her seeming kind of baffled, "She's not allowed. And I don't make trouble when I'm at Ohtori."
However since Usagi can't really claim she's never been in a detention...
"Detention is the worst kind of punishment." She relates to Chibi-Usa. "Boredom. I'd rather hold water buckets in a hallway than have to write 'I won't nap in class' a hundred times."
She takes Hotaru's suggestion as an 'out' though. "Let's go over to the wish trees like Hotaru-chan said." Taking a step back away from the table, she asks Chibi-Usa and Hotaru, "Would you two like to hang yours at the same time? You'd have to ask Rei-chan but I'm pretty sure that makes them extra likely to come true."
<Pose Tracker> Pink Moon Stick [Admin] has posed.
The PA -- which has a couple external speakers, along with those in the lobby -- chimes. It's the symbol to go in and sit down for the show.
"Listen!" hisses the woman.
She doesn't mean the bell.
Her counterpart gazes off in the opposite direction. His mouth makes a tiny, rosebud 'oh'.
"Do you hear it?" he asks her, eagerly.
"That sound..." she breathes.
They both step back from the tables -- as does everyone else, kids milling around the entrance in an enthusiastic crush.
But they don't go in with them...
...instead they follow the sound of the throbbing engine around the block to the planetarium's back door.
"Thank you for agreeing to do this," the woman gushes.
"Yeah, it's truly an honor, Mr. Ohtori!" says the man.
The driver slides out of the car -- after the engine pulses to a stop.
"The pleasure's all mine."
TO BE CONTINUED
