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yuji "old man whisperer" itadori. ([personal profile] eyescar) wrote in [community profile] synflux2025-07-17 06:34 pm

πŸŽ‰ TANABATA FESTIVAL 🎊

WHO: Everyone in Neo Tokyo
WHAT: Tanabata festival! πŸŽ‰
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!
β–Ά 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!
β–Ά 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. )
    β–Ά 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! )
    β–Ά 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.
    soft_shelled: (376)

    [personal profile] soft_shelled 2025-08-05 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
    No don't shift little Raph, that causes the little Donnie to end up sliding right off of his older brother and going thump against the bench.

    Which wakes up the younger turtle and he is now hurting and jostled and Little Donnie is trying to not freak out and cry. So just little hiccups and sniffling, and still no sign of regular teen Donnie.
    redangelofpreventingharm: (Oh Fux)

    [personal profile] redangelofpreventingharm 2025-08-05 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
    The little Raph can't help it; he wriggles when he sleeps! So much so that he doesn't realize that his little brother slides off of him and thumps, waking up and hiccuping softly next to him.

    The bigger one, on the other hand, spots it and can't get up to catch the little Don. Nor can he activate his ninpo with all these people around. Instead, he scoots a little closer to the bench, not touching Donnie because he doesn't want to freak him out more.

    "Hey bud, are you okay?" he asks, his voice soft. "Did you get hurt?"
    soft_shelled: (360)

    [personal profile] soft_shelled 2025-08-08 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
    Everything is just coming to a head now for little Donnie, as he's overwhelmed and doesn't know how to answer. So just stays quiet at Raph's question, but he does make a little 'mmn' noise.

    No actual physical signs of harm, which might be why the younger turtle doesn't know how to answer.
    redangelofpreventingharm: (Guardian Mode: ACTIVATE)

    [personal profile] redangelofpreventingharm 2025-08-08 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
    As much as Raph would love to just scoop him up and tell him it'll be okay, he's in his human disguise right now, and it's not like Donnie's going to react well to touch. He stays close, checking to see if the little version of him wakes, which he doesn't, and takes a slow breath.

    Keeping his voice soft, he just speaks to Donnie gently. "You're okay, bud. Your brother's right here too so you're not alone. I'm not going to let anything happen to you two either, okay?"
    soft_shelled: (363)

    [personal profile] soft_shelled 2025-08-09 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
    The little turtle just lets out a soft whine at Raph's words, before doing his best to move back behind the younger Raph. Kind of half glaring but half being on guard at Raph as well, even though he does sound little like his brother. He's still wary.

    Thankfully? Teen Donnie returns, with food. A selection, because he maybe the kids might be hungry bu also Raph is a big guy maybe he'd eat more? Some takoyaki, the chicken skewers and yakisoba being carefully carried by him.

    "Hey, I'm back sorry it took so long."
    redangelofpreventingharm: (Default)

    [personal profile] redangelofpreventingharm 2025-08-09 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
    He isn't surprised at the glare, though it is kind of adorable the way that little Donnie shies away from him to stay by his known brother. He doesn't take it as a slight though, especially when the teen Donnie returns with more food than he's expecting.

    Raph looks over his shoulder, staying where he is though in case his size will freak out the littles. "No worries. Thanks for getting that."

    The little Raph rouses a little with a sleepy murmur and reaches one pudgy arm to bring his hand to his eyes to rub the sleep out of them. "Mmm?"
    soft_shelled: (169)

    [personal profile] soft_shelled 2025-08-10 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
    "Take your pick then," Donnie says, moving beside Raph and then holding out the food for Raph to take what he wants, before turning his attention to the kids. And ough boy, he kind of knows that look on his littler self. The 'something happened and I am overwhelmed' look that is being hidden behind being mad now.

    Hearing the little Raph make a noise results in the little Donnie to lightly rap on the other turtle's helmet.
    redangelofpreventingharm: (*fingerpoke*)

    [personal profile] redangelofpreventingharm 2025-08-10 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
    "Alright," he says, reaching for the yakisoba since he hasn't had it in an age and it smells amazing and taking it from Donnie so he can get a better handle on the rest of the food. "Thank you."

    He notes Donnie's attention on the kids, but kind of gives him that knowing "they're okay but space might be a good idea" look that he sometimes has to throw at his brothers when one of them needs a break.

    The little knock on his helmet makes the little Raph rub his face and sit up. "Hmm? Yes?" he asks, blinking the sleepies away to turn toward where it came from. He focuses on his little brother as he looks mad now. "...did somethin' happen?" he whispers to the little Donnie.
    soft_shelled: (353)

    [personal profile] soft_shelled 2025-08-18 12:36 am (UTC)(link)
    Space shall be given then, as he'll just sit himself down next to Raph before he is so having another chicken skewer. All while keeping on eye on the kids, of course.

    Little Donnie just makes a little 'hrm' sound at little Raph's question, not really wanting to answer but also having to give some kind of answer after all.
    redangelofpreventingharm: (*fingerpoke*)

    [personal profile] redangelofpreventingharm 2025-08-18 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
    Giving the littles their space, Raph focuses on mildly devouring the yakisoba, though he has to pause since it's fresh and hot. He mmms at it though as it's rather tasty! Not that he was expecting it not to be, but regardless, it's time to slurp some noodles.

    The little Raph frowns a little and shimmies a bit closer to his little brother, mildly entering PROTECTβ„’ mode for the angry little soft shell.