🎉 TANABATA FESTIVAL 🎊

[eyescar]

WHO: Everyone in Neo Tokyo
WHAT: Tanabata festival! 🎉
WHERE: In the centre of the park
WHEN: 17/07 onwards
WARNINGS: N/A

NEO TOKYO TANABATA

aka operation festival funtime

As the middle of July opens, the streets outside of Neo Tokyo seem to get decorated almost overnight. Colourful origami banners hang from the trees, a mixture of tanzaku, kamigoromo, orizuru and toami.

For anyone who has been to the Sendai region in the midst of the Summer months, the decorations will look almost endearingly familiar; it's time for tanabata!

▶ 001. OPERATION: FESTIVAL FUNTIME.

The savvier of people might notice a particularly bright shock of pink hair running around in the early hours of the morning, taking part in setting up the decorations and putting together a basic layout of tables with tablecloths and various goods and prizes. Each decoration is hand made, and if you look closely you might see little golden traces throughout, giving a clue to who helped made these ones. There's something infectious about his enthusiasm and the delight, even as he gets a little more tired as the day goes on - there's nothing stopping him. Eventually, his section of the festival is set up; there are various stands, some for making decorations (bamboo branches with ornaments, more paper ornaments, origami, and various other cute and traditional arts and crafts), some space for you to take a break and have a fruity and always non-alcoholic drink and an area with a handsome backdrop for the taking of photos.

He's not alone, though!

Raidou's looking livelier than he has than in the last few weeks. He's helping the festival in an organizational capacity, while Yuji handles most other things. He sets up the stands, moves and directs supplies to the right place, picks out spots for decorations, and makes sure both vendors and visitors have everything they need. If you stop to ask him a question or ask for direction, you get a quick, polite answer before he flits off to the next task.

Once things are running smoothly, you'll find him working at one of the food booths, where he's frying up takoyaki and taiyaki. Raidou couldn't be more in his element - serving up fresh food and treats to the Outsiders and the community. You might even get your food handed to you from him with a smile.

At night, the festival is lit up with fireworks and sparklers throughout, lighting up the sky with explosions of little joy and happiness.

Throughout the festival, you can also get a free bento, delivered to you by a cute looking rabbit. The bentos come in many designs, cute, adorable or precious!

▶ 002. A DREAM IS A WISH.

One of the most exciting aspects of tanabata remains the wish-making. In the set-up for the festival, there are little posters left around near one particular booth (manned by local cryptid Choso) to explain the story of the festival and the meaning that it holds. Alongside it are an almost ridiculous amount of paper strips in various colours, left with some pens and calligraphy brushes for people to pick up and use. A big sign next to it declares the following:

Make a wish! If it's a good one, it might come true!
The directions are clear: write your wish on a strip of paper and hang it on one of the bamboo decorations. The harder you wish, the more likely it is to come true - and there are some prompts for the kind of wishes people could make, just in case you're strapped for ideas:

Academic or work successes

Prosperity or good health

Care and love for family and friends

Success in love or platonic relationships

Fulfilment of a personal goal or ambition

You might notice Yuji watching as you're tying your wishes up... Don't worry about that!

If you require further assistance in your wish-making (or even if you don't at all) Choso seems more than happy to lend a helping hand. When he isn't cutting up paper strips and sorting them out into strangely-organized piles (paper thickness instead of size or colour), he's preparing the calligraphy ink via manual inkstone grinding or offering an absurdly wide variety of coloured (and scented) markers for your convenience.

The strips of wishes can be as decorative or simple as you like, so don't stress about your artistic genius!

( ooc note: If you would like Yuji to take a shot at making your wish come true, please respond to this comment! There will be some RNG "granted wishes" that you can use in your top level and keep as a fond memory, but please note there is only one "granted wish" per character. )

▶ 003. AS THE POETS SAY.

In the centre of the festival, in the midst of a park with vibrant flowers, is a table where Yuji sits for a few hours at a time between breaks. He seems to be practically vibrating out of his seat, and when approached he launches into an explanation of this particular game:

THE SOULMATE GAME!

The aim of the game is simple: you are given a ribbon at random with a number on it. Your mission? Find the person with the matching ribbon within a time limit of an hour and win a special prize. Don't worry though... If you lose, there's a prize for not quite making it within the limit. The festival is meant to be a celebration, after all, and Yuji doesn't want anyone to miss out.

Here's the problem: Yuji isn't making it easy for people to find their soulmate. He's not left a boundary for how far you can go (in case you were tempted to hide...) nor has he done anything to make the festival less distracting. This area is set up with your traditional festival games, such as (fake) goldfish scooping, ring toss and some chairs and tables set out for food and conversation.

To make it worse? Sometimes, Yuji might pop up and give you a hint to go in a particular direction, only for it to be a total red herring. This is definitely fun, isn't it? Who doesn't love a good chase? The problem is...

Will you find your soulmate in time...?

( ooc note: If you would like to win (or lose) at the soulmate game, please respond to this comment! Go ahead and OOCly decide who your character gets paired with and whether or not you win or lose - there are different prizes for each. You can play the soulmate game as many times as you want ICly, but you will only get one prize roll per character! )

▶ 004. TINY FRAGMENTS THAT REMAIN.

NOTE: THIS PROMPT WILL REFER TO THINGS THAT ARE SPOILERS FOR JUJUTSU KAISEN CHAPTER 264 ( refering to Yuji's powers and how he uses them in a fight ).
Here's the thing: Yuji wants everyone to have fun. His dream is that people are able to find some joy and peace in the midst of the darkness of the last few weeks, and so he sinks into something that is familiar to him - cursed energy, and his domain expansion. In the early hours of the second day of his festival, you might catch him making a hand sign before a ripple of powers hits, collecting around the area of the festival like a literal bubble. Anyone on the edge of the bubble will see it like a flickering, semi-transparent void, but there's nothing to worry about... Right?

The power of Yuji's domain expansion is simple enough, in theory: it transports into the memories, digs into the heart of what people want to show. His intention is to share the tanabata of his childhood with the people of Neo Tokyo and spark some joy for the Outsiders who have been through so much. He wants to show them something sweet and nostalgic, but he doesn't quite anticipate the side effect.

Outsiders who end up stepping into Yuji's domain will find themselves able to come face-to-face with their childhood selves, and enjoy the festival together. If they're together with another Outsider, those childhood versions of themselves (shaped in the way they remember themselves rather than how they actually looked!) are visible and shared, like an extension of their thoughts come to life.

It's still tanabata, but this particular part of the festival is influenced by what Yuji remembers from his youth, and Outsiders can find themselves seeing and being able to take part in various activities:

Crayfish catching (try and get the biggest or rarest one!)

Archery (can you beat your friends and get the bullseye?)

Horse riding (and you might hear Yuji commenting on how big their faces are)

Parades (are you going to join in?)

And anything else you can dream up! It's your character's childhood too, right...?

As soon as Yuji realises his mistake (at the end of the day, lost in his own memories) he brings down the domain, but it might be too late for some Outsiders who have come face to face with their more adorable versions. Whoops.

EVENT BREAKDOWN (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. OPERATION: FESTIVAL FUNTIME: The festival is being set up by Yuji and Raidou, with support from other Outsiders to make decorations. Food and other entertainment is on offer for anyone who attends, but all drinks are non-alcoholic.

2. A DREAM IS A WISH: Outsiders are given the chance to take part in the tanabata tradition of wish making. They can decorate paper with their wish and hang it up in the hope it will come true. Yuji will be granting one wish per outsider.

3. AS THE POETS SAY: The "Soulmate Game" has characters being randomly assigned numbers and tasked with finding their matching pair to win a prize. They have an hour to find their partner and, win or lose, there is a prize for taking part.

4. TINY FRAGMENTS THAT REMAIN: Yuji uses his domain expansion to bring Sendai tanabata to life, that has the accidental side effect of allowing Outsiders to meet and see their childhood selves. It also allows them to visit Sendai itself and take part in some other minigames that are not tanabata related if they want.

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Cloud Strife | Redemption

[mesospheric]

01. A Dream Is A Wish
[ It’s new, this. Festivals weren’t a foreign concept, no, but in his time on Gaia they had taken back seat to the march of war, had been drowned out by the roar of engines and the scream of artillery until the last one he had ever gone to was a distant, quiet memory. Festivals, celebrations, they had been too few and far between.

Now, he stands in the heart of one, sprung up in the streets like weeds overnight, all colour and the whisper of paper and leaves in the breeze, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t just a little overwhelmed by the energy of it all.

Maybe it’s why he’s out by one of the booths, seen striding away from the weirdo with the urchin-buns on his head with paper (pink) and marker (raspberry-scented blue) to presumably find a better place to contemplate this whole wish thing.

… There’s a lot to contemplate, it seems, as Cloud has just been standing around for the last ten minutes, staring at his paper scrap like it might offer a clue about what he actually wants.

Hmm. ]


02. As The Poets Say
Closed to Nanami
[ See, you see, the thing is. The thing is! Cloud wasn’t looking to play anything, not really, but when he drew near the table, the pink kid manning it was just so effusive, really just excited, and for all his reluctance to take part in something obviously not his deal, Cloud didn’t have the heart to turn the boy down outright. It was impossible. Just untenable. The word ‘no’ was hilariously hard to come up with.

So it’s why he’s meandering the festival’s grounds now, some ten minutes later, with a yellow ribbon in his fist and a vaguely lost cast to his eyes that no amount of glancing around can hide.

Where in the world is (un)lucky number 7? ]


03. Festivities
[ As the evening creeps in and darkens the sky, Cloud finds himself STILL at the venue. For something he’d deemed Not His Thing, he’s stuck around longer than he himself expected, inevitably drawn in by this or that sight, smell, or vendor. While he didn’t have many Kryptos to start with, even despite his on-and-off work with that one agency, he still greets the incoming night with a lighter digital wallet than he started with. How could such a thing happen?

At some point, he stops in the middle of the walkway to stare deadpan at the items hanging from his belt: a decorative water balloon, a plastic baggie containing an unbothered goldfish, and a little papier mache mask in the shape of a fox, all bouncing and gently jumbling in what he can only take as a condemning way.

The vendors around here were really adept at their jobs.

Perhaps you notice him, dear stranger, hovering near a booth containing nothing less than an array of candied apples, and staring intently into space like his consideration for the price has gotten somewhere off track. Or perhaps it’s at another booth, where the vendor is eager to cajole him into picking up a small bamboo cork gun with great dubiousness.

What will you do? ]

03

[mace_pray_love]

[Gotta complete all those mini games, huh, Cloud?

Jessica is staring at one of the prizes at the shooting range booth. A black cat-shaped figurine that could maybe be a jaguar... if you squint. She needs it for a project she's working on.

But she's rubbish at ranged weapons. Front line brawling only for her.

But as she looks around, this guy looks like he's maybe already won some prizes, and more importantly, he has a bullyable vibe.]

Hey, how's your aim? I'll pay for you to pay if you can win me that.

[She's also new and not swimming in funds, but she's been doing odd jobs since she got here, and if she gets that prize, she's considering it a shrine expense.]

[mesospheric]

[ Look, the prizes, ok? The prizes.

Luckily for this sudden new client, Cloud has warmed to the idea of another idle game by the time she speaks up, so when he turns to levy that bright-eyed little frown on her, it's not as standoffish as it might have normally been.

But the prospect of being paid to play sure doesn't hurt either. ]

It's better than most. How much are we talking?

[ It's lookin' good, Jessica; he's looking at the prize in question, a misshapen lump that might be a sand hog or might be a cat, if you were myopic enough. ]

I'm not too cheap, as a warning.

[ He is. He is so cheap. ]

[mace_pray_love]

[She squints her eyes at him, assessing. She could probably just bully him into it for the cost of the game, but it's a festival, after all. She shouldn't be stingy.

...at least, not too stingy.]

I'll pay for your tickets to play until you win a prize for me and a prize for yourself. As long as you don't secretly suck at this game, that is.

[It's no mercenary contract, but if you were going to play anyways, why not do it on Jessica's krypto-dime?]

[mesospheric]

[ Yeah, open up those goddessly purse strings for the occasion.

But look, he's thinking about it, he's making a show of Considering it before he gives a resolute little nod. ]

You have a deal. Now I'll just have to pretend I don't secretly suck at this.

[ So he hefts the little cork gun, and gives a nod to the stall keeper, and gets himself all set up with the tiny rifle stock against his shoulder while he awaits his erstwhile employer's word to begin.

Playing these little games was pretty good when it was on someone else's krypto-dime. ]

[mace_pray_love]

[Just don't skip the tutorial.

Jessica stands to the side, arms crossed as she watches Cloud line up the toy gun. At least he looks like he has good form? He also has good arms, but Jessica just broke up with her dirtyrottenlousy ex-boyfriend, so she's trying not to notice things like that the moment.]

Ok, let's see what you can do!

[mesospheric]

[ We made that mistake once with Dio, never again

It's a little wonky, being just a cork gun, but not too difficult in grasping its handling. The first shot pings off the corner of the cat-dog-whatever looking prize, but the next nails it right in the nose, and the third hits right in its little plushy eye to knock the whole thing off its shelf. ]

Just one?

[ Cocky. Don't do it, Jess, life is easier without a troubled blond in it. ]

01

[sensehispresence]

[ The last thing that Kadaj expects is to see blond spiky hair. It wasn't like there had been anyone around that he'd known before. No, it had always been him. Doesn't mean he doesn't watch as Cloud steps away from the booth where the paper was.

A part of him isn't even sure he should say anything. This was, after all, a festival and he wasn't the same person that had been known back in his own world. He's grown and been learning how to be human. Without sensing Sephiroth or being influenced by him, in any way. ]

Big brother.

[ Of course, if this started anything bad to ruin what big brother, Yuji, had started then he'd turn to walk away. He wasn't aiming for a fight, after all. ]

[mesospheric]

[ Cloud doesn't clock it at first; he was a single child of a home that didn't exist anymore, had never been called the like even by the younger kids in the years leading to his departure. It doesn't occur to him for a long moment that he's the one called for until something ineffable and without form demands he look.

Blinking as if torn from a reverie, Cloud casts around in search for whatever it was that had tugged at him until his eyes inevitably land on the pale thing yonder. It's so fleeting, it's just a glance, but he has just enough time to take in silver hair and mako-green eyes before a lancing agony grips him by the skull and shakes the remnant thoughts from his head.

The marker clatters to the ground as a hand snaps up, palm pressing against his temple, as if the pressure could lessen it, as if it ever could. He hisses out before he can even catch himself, words without thought: ]

Who are you?

[sensehispresence]

[ Kadaj knows that things can be odd in this place. That things aren't as they seem, as it were. Was Cloud from a different point than him then? Something that was weird and yet... not, not after this place. After what it had done.

Taking note of Cloud's actions has him stilling. Did big brother have the problem he used to have? Before showing up in this place a little over a year ago he'd sensed him, had sensed Sephiroth's presence. Coming here? That wasn't a thing. He started to learn how to be human.

Cat-like eyes watch the other like a hawk. ]

Kadaj.

[ The young remnant was the embodiment of Sephiroth's anger, cruelty, and insanity. Or, at the very least, he used to be. Learning how to be human (so far) had been pretty hard. But he'd made friends. Even those he considered like brothers to him. ]

If you wish, big brother, I'll go.

[ Last thing he wanted was to cause problems for Cloud. To harm him in some way he couldn't see. There had been a time where he thought the other was the black sheep of their family, but he didn't see things that way anymore. ]

I don't want to cause you any undue pain.

[ This version of his brother wasn't the one he'd died in the arms of. Or maybe those memories had disappeared from him after so long. In which he didn't want to bring up old memories. ]

[mesospheric]

[ In another world and another age, Cloud had become himself in all the ways that mattered. In another world, Sephiroth was remnants haunting his steps like a whisper. But that is another world, and an age beyond Cloud's here and now.

In the misplaced present, Cloud finds himself faced with an incredible pressure, for when the wraith says 'Kadaj' he hears it in two voices; one soft and sleek and physical, the other a resonant hiss that echoes in his bones, mocking as a devil on his shoulder.

Silver hair and green eyes. Silver hair and green eyes. Silver hair and green eyes and-- ]

Wait--!

[ If asked why, Cloud wouldn't be able to come up with a reason why, exactly, he can't just let this phantom go. Why an unknown compelling something pulls him forth like a hook set into his marrow, setting him to a stumbling pace toward this strange, familiar face. The marker rolls away, forgotten, the paper crumpled in his gloved fist. ]

I'm not-- [ in pain, but that's a lie ] -anyone's brother. Why do you say that?

[sensehispresence]

[ Back in his own world he had sensed Sephiroth. He didn't know the older man who had been a part of him. Didn't know why Mother had wanted him. Everything had been about Jenova and the reunion, nothing more. He'd have done everything for her. For Mother.

There had also been a battle. Where he'd become Sephiroth and lost a battle to the blond before him. He had died in Cloud's arms. Had slipped into the lifestream with Aerith and Zack. Whether Loz and Yazoo had followed him after was a whole other story.

Cat-like eyes look toward Cloud when he comes up to him. ]

You are, big brother. You've always been family.

[ Kadaj had always considered Cloud the black sheep of the family though. It was weird seeing him now. ]

We're all a part of him.

[mesospheric]

[ Him. Him? Who else could it be but that man? That phantom, that fucking ghost that has jeered and cajoled his every step?

A strange fury builds up in Cloud’s breast, roiling like black water, the perfect twin to the sickening pleasure the thought sparks.

We’re all a part of him. ]

That isn’t right. That can’t be right. You have the wrong person.

I am not him.

1.

[thighhighs]

You're supposed to write a wish on it, [ comes the voice not too far from his side, her own scrap of paper and marker in hand. Her's is just basic white and black, though, unassuming and simple. ] Anything at all, really.

[mesospheric]

[ Oh. That kind of jars him a little. Has him lifting his head with a blink, looking around for the source of the advice. Once he finds her, he looks back to his own materials, then back to her. ]

I gathered, with all the signs.

[ And that creepy dude at the booth. ]

... But when the parameters are 'anything', you'd be surprised how little actually comes up.

[thighhighs]

Well, don't think of it as anything, then. You've got people or something you care about, right? Maybe start there.

[ Her handwriting is neat and tidy, and she finishes writing it quickly, though she flips the paper in an attempt to keep Cloud from reading it. ]

Or maybe there's something you really want back home?

[mesospheric]

[ Something he really wants… He figures that writing out his intent for potential murder wouldn’t be kindly looked on, so that crosses that option out. What else? Think small. Smaller. All the way down to palm-sized and less.

What does he want? On the most shallow, surface-level of thoughts and possibilities? Hmm.

He watches her hide her little wish with a blink, and as if spurred by this simple action, pops the cap off his marker and begins to write in a strange cursive, not bothering to hide his own ‘wish’:

I want to make lots of gil money. ]

Seems silly, doing it like this. But most traditions tend to look that way to outsiders.

[thighhighs]

You think so? I think it's kind of... romantic.

[ She smiles at him, lifting a shoulder in a shrug. ] It's a tradition back where I'm from, but I haven't really been able to participate for a long time.

[mesospheric]

Romantic...

[ He seems to consider this, thinks of flowers and soft light in a broken church. Thinks that they would have liked this kind of thing, if they'd all been here. Thinks about a big man scoffing, and a creature's unexpected wisdom egging them all into writing something out anyway.

Satisfied with his little wish, Cloud looks treeward for a potential branch. ]

You think wishes will come true even if you're not from here?

03

[cranekin]

Have you tried one?

(The candied fruits on display, shining bright as they reflect the festival's lights? The candied applies look beautiful but what about the candied mikan or the line of strawberries? The man speaking might look like a ghost in the night considering his white hair, pale skin, and white yukata but with a friendly smile, at least he seems like a friendly one. )

The strawberry one is the best.

(And Tsurumaru steps forward, pointing to a stick of strawberries and raising 2 fingers. As the vendor takes the sticks and hands them to him, Tsurumaru adds to his new hesitant friend,)

If you wait too long, you'll miss them.

[mesospheric]

[ Another voice coming out of nowhere; Cloud ought to be used to this by now, but here he is, giving a little startle anyway when the bubble of yet another reverie is popped.

But hey, this one has good advice, and the apples were looking a little too big for a simple sample. So, once the wraith gets himself some strawberries, Cloud steps up to mimic the guy's transaction, pointing to the mikan instead and allowing himself a little spark of satisfaction when he receives the fruit (ha) of his efforts. ]

Can't have that happen. I was... considering. The fruit around here is different than I'm used to.

[ A pause while he works one segment off its skewer with his teeth. For some reason, he doesn't mind it, eating in front of this night ghost, letting it see how his eyes light up faintly when the flavour hits his tongue. (maybe it's the smell of iron, pervasive; maybe it's the hint of omen that hangs around him like a cloak) ]

[tokakujuho]

[ Number 7 is sitting safely in Nanami's pocket. He is only marginally interested in the games - his childhood used to carry a different flavour, and his teens, well. But the little cheeky boy had insisted so here he was.

Spotting a mop of light hair similar to his own, Nanami makes his way over to Cloud. ]

I barely recognised you without your giant cleaver.

[ It's not even innuendo. That sword has ridiculous proportions. ]

You seem lost.

[mesospheric]

[ Point of fact: Cloud feels naked without said giant cleaver, but openly carrying massive weapons of potential destruction is fairly frowned upon in this world, so here he is. Unarmed and prickly about it, feeling strangely and uncomfortably light without its reliable weight anchoring him to the here and now.

Thankfully, he recognizes this voice, so his frown is only minimal when he turns to greet the blond trader of chocolates. ]

Nn. That makes two of us.

[ He’s tried to not look at his reflection in windows and glass all damn day. It’s unsettling. ]

I’m trying to find something. Someone?

[ He holds up the ribbon with its “7” like crime scene evidence, bright against the leather of his glove. ]

Some kid really wanted players for this game of his.

[tokakujuho]

[ The cleaver whilst certainly handy in a fight would ruin the mood of this festival. Everyone's here to have a good time and to take their minds off of the battles past and future. Even Nanami has picked something more casual and summertime appropriate to wear - light linen trousers, a pale yellow shirt with the sleeves rolled up. ]

He's a good kid. I'm glad you've decided to play along.

[ A cursory glance a the ribbon, a light twitch of the corner of his mouth. ]

I understand there are prizes if you manage to win. Shall we walk around and look for the counterpart?

[mesospheric]

[ He shouldn't give a damn, but he finds himself trying to, anyway. Like it would be a bigger pain to let that pink boy down, like it would be a bigger effort to shoo this guy away. Looking at odds with the older man in his black tobi pants and heavy boots, in his dark denims and gloves, Cloud nevertheless nods as he falls in at Nanami's side. ]

No sense in coming to a festival just to go home empty-handed.

[ He says it like he's reciting some old fogey's wisdom, like there isn't a little flicker of relief in his own too-bright eyes when Nanami suggests a walk around. ]

Where should we start? They could be by the food vendors.