estoria | [ open ] 'cause baby you're a firework

Entry tags:

[ open ] 'cause baby you're a firework

Who: Open mingle for any interested Cerealians! Or those who come by the park coincidentally.
When: ICly whatever Friday is happening during Event 33.
Where: The Park in the Residential District.
What: In an effort led by a ten year old and a sword that is not ten years old, Post-Robocolypse Cerealia gets a fireworks, watermelon, bottled water, and BYOB (bring your own blanket/beer/barbecue) late-summer early-fall afternoon celebration. That ends with the fireworks. Nothing can go wrong! (Anything you so desire can go wrong.)
Rating/Warning: There's watermelon to be cut and fireworks to be set off, so potential injury and fire involved.

There's very little formality to the whole of the affair. Anyone who wants can wander into the park, a few tables set up to hold water bottles, the area clear of debris and former robotic gardeners. Any dangerous areas of vegetation have been carefully marked with CAUTION — POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS tape. There are several watermelons carefully corralled together on the ground, paper plates, and a bag for trash tied to one of the tables.

Nearby, there's also a whole table of fireworks, from the handheld to the relatively safe to set off to the this probably should only be handled by a professional, but no lighters; all of those are kept over with the water bottles. Safety First!

The later afternoon is for slicing and serving watermelon and water (or any of the foods that people may choose to bring), with Chihiro at least fully encouraging people to use weapons to cut the watermelon (...) and turn it into a kind of impromptu show. Once the skies are dark enough, the fireworks will begin. Anyone willing to help out will be generally welcome, and sparklers and the smallest fireworks are around for anyone to grab hold of and have fun. The truly big fireworks are going to be set off at the far end of the park by a few brave, intrepid souls. (Unless someone keeps Chihiro away, that includes one ten year old.)

Pray they don't like themselves on fire or explode themselves, especially as almost every person at the party is probably guaranteed to not be fully functional. What can go wrong? Let's have a watermelon and fireworks show!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ It's what she expects from Karl. She returns his smile with a small one, knowing that's pretty much how it's always going to be. One of his adult friends might be able to break through; but she's young. People have different defenses they put up, or different expectations from, the young. Accepting the inequity of it is simply the sensible thing to do. (But it is, perhaps, why she finds she enjoys spending time with those who lack certain human concepts of interpersonal relationships more than she knows how to say.) ]

It's pretty, and it's blue, so both those things are probably true.

[ She agrees, resting her hands in her lap. Her head tips back, looking skyward... the afterimage of a firework burns against the darkness of the evening sky. ]

Mm. I'm not sure how long it's been for me, but it was nice to see some of them.

[ Not all, but eh. Some is far better than none at all. ]

I'm glad you came to watch them too.

[Karl stifles a laugh, though it still comes out as a snort.]

First time I've been told that my hair's pretty.

[Not exactly the most manly of adjectives, but whatever. Unlike Lugina, Karl doesn't take pretty as an insult.]

Why wouldn't I? I did practice cutting watermelon for a reason, right? [He did not partake in today's watermelon-cutting with weaponry, because he still thinks that's a very questionable idea, but.] Besides, I was kind of worried that someone would accidentally set themselves on fire.

[ She gives him a sideways look. ]

Hair doesn't care if it's on a man or a woman or a boy or a girl or a robot, I guess. It's pretty on everyone.

[ A firm nod of her head to all of that; heck, beautiful is another word, just not one she'd apply to Karl. At least he's amused instead of insulted! (She still thinks his rebuttal of the emoji is a silly, silly thing.) ]

Reluctantly. [ She points out, but she's smiling, and she's teasing at the same time. She's still very... tentative when she teases Karl. Like she's never quite sure how it's going to go over, all things considered. ] Mm, is your ice okay to use on people?

[ Or was he just straight up planning to be damage control? She appreciates that too.................... she hadn't even thought to bring along a fire extinguisher. There's a mental check mark for "next time." Whoops... ]

That's one way of looking at it! I'll admit that I've never really paid it much attention.

[His hair is naturally shounen! And now we know whose side he gets it from.

He simply grins when she teases. Hey, Seria does it (as did ——), even if she occasionally threatens to beat him up when he teases back (he's learned never to comment on her acting like a motherly figure again...).]

... Well, I definitely wouldn't be flinging ice at anyone. [Because that's dangerous, and most definitely not what his sorcery was intended for.] I guess I could try if I constrained it carefully and I do have some healing up my alley... but otherwise, I was thinking of more conventional means.

... Huh. I didn't know you could heal, too.

[ She's surprised. Of the magic she knew he had, healing wasn't part of it (or had it been, his ice and water affiliations stole the lion's share of her understanding of his magicalness). ]

I met one knight here who healed with his sword. It was amazing.

[ Leon had literally healed a scratch on the top of her foot. Her threshold for amazing can sometimes be set really, really low. Still, the sentiment is genuine, and there's a happy sort of warmth of memory in her voice. She's glad to have encountered so many nice people during her time here. Karl, Leon, Kashuu... there are so many, more than she can name on all her fingers and toes put together. (She's probably tried, when distracting herself from other things.) ]

Mm, that's good! I have my first aid kit, so I was ready for that kind of thing. It's in my backpack.

[ Kashuu had actually given her that kit. Along with an emergency contact card with the swords information, numbers, and address(es) on it. This is subtly hilarious because she has nothing that actually states where she lives. Whoops? ]

But healing magic is probably much more effective than band-aids and gauze. Except for fires. Water's probably easiest for handling those.

[To be fair, the healing is part of his ice and water affiliations in his magicalness.]

Probably! It can get tiring, though, especially since it's not really what I specialize in. I'd rather let things heal naturally, if I can—but it can be useful for a pinch.

[Idly, he holds his hands up as he watches the fireworks, fingers framing the sky as if taking a picture.

... It really is nice to be able to see a normal, blue sky after so long. So much of Ishgria was dyed in an eerie red.]

But in that way, I think knowing first aid is more useful than knowing healing magic! It's always good to be prepared, too.

[ She rests her chin on her arms, folded across her knees as they are now that she's shifted positions. She watches the fireworks through the fringe of her bangs, blinking as the colours burst and fade against the darkness of the evening sky. ]

I didn't think about that. How much energy it takes to do magic stuff.

[ Like the fireworks, she guesses. So much inside, that if you let it all out at once, there's nothing left until refilled. ... Though fireworks aren't refillable. People are. ]

I don't know if it was the same for Haku and Yubaba. Maybe it was...

[ She breathes out through her nose, cutting off a sigh. She rolls her head forward, a lazy sort of nod. She agrees that first aid is important. It's why she'd taken up Yanagiya-san on her offer at the time. She practices bandaging at the track, or anywhere she is at the time. She has to, in order to not forget. ]

Mm, it's important. Being prepared, and knowing the things that help you be prepared. Just like being determined to not give up is important.

Well, I recharge pretty quickly, at least.

[It's also apparently where all of his demonic powers go into once he gains control of them, because seriously, Karl, why are you zooming around with a drop check of 64 when everyone else is stuck with the 40s or 52 at best—]

Yeah... though let's hope that nobody does set themselves on fire or anything! It'd sure make for a downer ending, though I guess that if it's resolved quickly enough, it might be funny one day to look back on.

Like a rechargeable battery.

[ ... Sure. ]

... Karl-san, you have a really harmful imagination, huh?

[ She means morbid. Morbid... ]

... That's one way to look at it.

[Sure. Let's go with that.]

Haha, does it seem that way? I think it's just because I've been a soldier for a long time. I'm pretty used to people getting injured, and as long as it's no big deal in the long run, it's usually something we can joke about afterwards.

[Karl still swears that he was not about to just collapse onto the ground back then, though. Way to dramatize the story, Seria!!]

It's more talking about the lighting people on fire in the first place.

[ But she nods; she does get what he means. Distance and time make things funny memories because you live through them. It's a perspective shift she's really only recently started to understand. Being ten doesn't help; it's not like she remembers more than five years ago, and her as a younger child is still more embarrassing than practically amusing. Ah, to be young... ]

Like when you ask if something's going to hurt you, or look like you expect that kind of stuff first.

[ She shifts, reaching out to pat his shoulder in what she's aiming to have be something reassuring. ]

I'm glad you think of the stuff we need to watch out for. I'm sorry that you're used to getting hurt and seeing your friends get hurt. That's not fun.

[ Speaking from experience, watching people you love die (... he didn't say die, kid) really hurts. It makes you want to do what you can, even if it's impossible, to save them. ]

Edited 2016-09-09 05:55 (UTC)

Heh, I have some... very honest friends.

[And by that he means violent.]

It's not so bad, though: in a way, I can always count on them to be honest. [Unlike him, at least.] I'm just happy to have them be them.

[He's never really seen anything weird by it, but he's known Seria and Lugina for years now.

Technically, he has seen a lot of friends die, as the high mortality rate of the job is unfortunately a truth of being a Demon Slayer. It's hard, particularly as their commander—when he's left feeling like he could've done something to prevent the casualties—but... again, it's a reality that he knew he was getting into when he joined. In the end, that's what it means to be a soldier: to be prepared to sacrifice yourself for the greater good, and similarly, to accept that your allies may do the same.

Buuut that's a legitimately morbid topic, so he is definitely not going to confirm that at this moment.]

It's all right. The not-so-fun experiences make the good ones that much more meaningful. Besides, everything is a learning experience, right? That's part of why we even have the capacity to feel pain to begin with.

[ Karl, she's literally never heard anyone use "honest" to describe "violent" before. It merits a small, quick to pass odd look; but she figures too often asking what it means leads to It's Complicated, and she's not in the mood for that tonight.

It's Complicated is a lot like When You're Older. There's no real time where people will explain, and she can ask, but it doesn't do more than lead in circles. She squeezes his shoulder, then reclaims her hand, folding in on herself to occupy a smaller space once more. ]

Is that why?

[ She asks. The question is genuine. ]

Do we only feel pain so that we learn? Even if what we learn is that there's nothing we can do to stop the hurting?

[Don't ask him to explain tsuns, Chihiro.]

Well, if you want to get technical, the function behind physical pain is that it's our body's way of telling us that something's wrong. You wouldn't learn to avoid getting injured if it wasn't painful, after all.

[As the fireworks rise, he traces their path in the sky, spreading his fingers wide as they explode. It's a silly, inane gesture, but sometimes, those aren't so bad.]

Even emotional pain has its purpose too. Stress, as long as it doesn't burn us out completely, makes us efficient. Sadness teaches us empathy and compassion. And people who don't know what it's like to hurt in the heart, or who can will that pain away so easily... they don't learn to value what they have.

[...]

It's true that sometimes, it feels like it won't stop hurting, but...

[The loneliness that permeated his childhood never really faded, and instead dulled; buried, where it can't rear its head until he's alone. He's never been comfortable in his own body either, for as long as he can remember, and knowing the truth now hasn't made him any happier in that regard.

Sometimes, pain lasts. Even so—]

What you learn from your pain is up to you. [He learned to hold his friends dear. He's learning not to run away from reality.] It's easy to feel like you're hurting more than you ever have before, but memory's a fickle thing, you know? That's usually not true—you've hurt this badly before, and you've always pulled through when you didn't feel like you would. Knowing that gives me strength.

[ She listens, reminding herself to really hear. It's difficult, because understanding the places other people come from isn't always intuitive. Add in all the more differences in backgrounds and it gets even more... Complicated.

She watches as he moves his hand, eyes focused on his fingers as they spread wide, mimicking the firework overhead. Chihiro doesn't know if she fully understands, or fully agrees. Is it important?

Listening is. Understanding that this is Karl's understanding of those pains. Her own doesn't need to match it perfectly. It ultimately leaves her quiet, only making those little noises of assent to show she's listening as it seems to be appropriate. She doesn't feel that people need sadness to learn empathy and compassion. Sadness can leave people desperate, or depressed, or just sad. It takes something more, she thinks, but it may in the end simply be seeing the examples of others. Or feeling that kernel of it inside, in the place that feels like a heart, despite not being a physical organ.

She shifts, planting her hands by her sides to scoot over next to Karl. She debates the worth between various more masculine gestures, from punching his shoulder to... she's not even sure. A thumbs up? Probably manly. (She does believe Karl is a touch sensitive to these differences.) As it is, she gives up, deciding to fold her hands back in her lap and lean sideways. It'd work a lot better if he was smaller, or if she was bigger; but life isn't convenient.

She figures he's talking about the way he's learned from pain. She knows how fickle memory is, and how it can hurt even when you know there's something to remember, but can't. How that memory, crashing back through, can be both a blessing and a fright. It's not so important. She guesses just being there is; Chihiro doesn't really know. ]

I'm glad.

[ That it gives him strength. That he has whatever makes sense for him work, though It's Complicated, probably. (Sorry, Karl, that's her end impression of you pretty much forever now.) She chooses not to agree or disagree with the rest of what he's said. It's less important if she does, she figures. After all, she's ten. People aren't generally consulting her for her points of view on the world, and she's okay with that, when they're not being really dumb. It's enough of a privilege when people do listen. She can return that much of a favour; like she should be, anyway. ]

Edited 2016-09-10 05:19 (UTC)

[Inwardly, he sighs, because what he said was meant to be for her benefit, rather than his—he'd intended for it to be encouraging, but I'm glad tells him that he probably failed in that regard. It might've been better if Seria were here, seeing as how she seems to be better at this sort of thing than him, even with her lack of eloquence, but he's all too aware that she isn't (none of them are). Maybe another one of Chihiro's friends, then? He's evidently not doing too great of a job here.

(Would Chihiro have been better off with someone else as a roommate? In terms of what's good for her, he might not have thought that offer through well enough...)

Outwardly, he smiles, because what else is there to do?]

Okay then.

[He doesn't know what else to say, or if there's even anything that would make a difference. Words have been failing him in more ways than one ever since entering Ishgria; nothing he says seems to matter the way he wants them to anymore. I have to do better.]

[ Considering most of Chihiro's friends are not equipped to handle children, he's exactly as better and worse as the rest, for the most part. It's also not his fault. Talking across cultural divides alongside age and experience divides makes things confusing either which way.

That, and kids are perceptive in misleading ways, even to themselves. As it is, Chihiro makes a small noise in the back of her throat (she's feeling better, because a focus on hearing a friend has coping mechanisms and is okay is a distraction that makes her feel better as a whole, and encouraged that the people around her can handle these things) and says nothing else. She's used to lapsing into silence around adults. For her, it's a comfortable enough silence to fall into.

It's maybe an upgrade to tucking him in and running off into a chaotic city to try and keep a sick friend safe, but that's mostly because the chaos here is controlled, no robots are attacking, and it's entirely unrelated. ... Oh well. Still makes it an upgrade? ]

[Silence is odd at times to Karl, too used to the chatter of his friends (ah, he misses Seria and Lugina's bickering, even though he knows that as soon as he has to deal with it again, he'll be sick of it immediately). Still, there's serenity to be found in quietude, he supposes, like the lazy afternoons he spent with his friend down by the river.

But those are days long past, the memories distant. While (at the core, we haven't changed all that much) (I'll always be your friend) some things have remained the same, their childhood—and with it, any semblance of peace—has disappeared behind them long ago.

The realization of his present idleness suddenly makes him want to do something more productive, even as he reminds himself that relaxing is plenty productive in its own way (that a part of his mind still protests is probably a sign in itself that he needs the break; being a Summoner isn't a vacation-friendly job even when not in the middle of multiple world crises, and now this). Was he always this restless? Did Ishgria sap from him the ability to do anything other than run around trying to solve a million conflicts at once (which failed miserably, 0/10 would not try again)? Ugh.

It doesn't matter, either way. He doesn't get much more time to enjoy the fireworks before his sight cuts out again, prompting a quiet sigh from him. So much for that... He lets himself flop onto his back, resting his head on his arms and closing his eyes.]

[ Homesickness has been worse for her lately. In the near future, it'll be even worse, where dreams about home will linger into waking with a fierce sort of ache for the familiar, and the familiarly unfamiliar. She wants her parents back, she wants to be a kid who doesn't have to think about the scary things Cerealia has her thinking about way too often, but wanting changes nothing. She does what she can to not intrude or be a burden on others; it's part of how she responds to Karl, and most the people she's met. She gets scared and lonely and shoves it away by focusing on the little things she can do day to day. Or the crazy plans like this, involving watermelon and fireworks. Anything that can carry a hint of home to let her stomach unclench.

She's not so good at describing those things. Or imposing on people to explain... particularly with adults. She's been frank with very, very few of those. (It's why most the time when she cried, she did so while alone or in the shower. Then she can be honest, but not intrusive. She's only cried on Kashuu, and to an extent, it was easier because of who and what he was.

She's more lost in a sense of yearning nostalgia than anything else in that quiet. When Karl loses sight and flops back with a sigh, she almost falls back too, instead making a startled noise as she flails to catch herself with her support gone. She feels bad... she shouldn't have been leaning. She even starts to apologise to Karl, hesitating as she watches him close his eyes. That... ]

Hey, Karl-san... have you been having trouble with being able to see, too?

[ Because otherwise this is a melancholy that she's not sure what to make of; perhaps he, too, is homesick. Or friendsick? He's got more important things waiting for him back home than she does. Most days, she's pretty sure everyone here does. Which is okay... just in another way, pretty lonely. ]

Ah, sorry!

[He'd forgotten that Chihiro had been leaning on him; if he'd remembered, he wouldn't have moved.

He opens his eyes, smiling sheepishly, as he remains on the ground.]

Yeah... sorry. Describe the fireworks for me?

It's okay.

[ she'd been startled, but since she wasn't the blind one at the moment, she hadn't been freaked out. If she'd held still enough to be forgotten... she figured she was doing her job being unobtrusive.

At his request, she looks toward the night sky. Who knew if her power of description was up to the task? All she could do is try. ]

Really, it's fine. I was blind for a while earlier too. Um... ah, the one that just exploded is bright orange! It's spreading out fast, and it looks kind of like a sea urchin. Spines of light going every direction, and now it's starting to fade... oh. It's shimmering as it fades out. It's really pretty.

[ thus will she attempt to explain what it is she sees, comparing some to fern leaves, falling plum blossoms, weeping willows, or the afterimage left behind your eyelids when someone shines a bright light in your face unexpectedly. it's not a poet's eye for detail or description. there's a very childlike quality to the sense of wonder that finds itself in her tone of voice. Chihiro does her best, like she'd hope to be done for her if their positions had been reversed. ]

It sounds like it!

[Karl listens, responding with appropriate enthusiasm. In the end, it doesn't really matter to him what the fireworks look like, as fireworks are fireworks, not the answer to life. He appreciates Chihiro's attempts, with an imagination that he feels people lose as they get older (he doubts he would've been able to describe the fireworks the way she does, at least), but more than anything, it's nice just to have something to focus on rather than lie there awkwardly with his blindness.

He hopes that it's helpful for her too, to have something to say, or to be forced to focus on the fireworks—for something that, again hopefully, is entertaining for her as well.]

[ It's probably the first thing that goes according to his hoped plans tonight. Being his "eyes" for something that doesn't matter, and that can't harm him or anyone else (outside of freak fire accidents, but aside from that) is a gentle responsibility compared to so many of the rest.

It's easier to let things slide away until all she's focusing on are the lights in the sky and the chill in the air and the way her bum falls asleep and she has to shift while trying not to fidget at the same time. It's not quite finale time when she finds herself stifling yawns with a hand, blinking back teary eyed tiredness. It's been a long, good day for the most part. ]

Mm, Karl-san? Do you want to stay through the finale?

[ She's a bit inured to the idea that blindness really stops people from moving around. Too stubborn to let it do that to her, she assumes the same for him. He's a fairly stubborn person in her opinion. He wouldn't let those things slow him down. ]

[Stubbornness is generally a required trait to be a Summoner, yes. (Probably why he, Seria, and Lugina all manage to frustrate one another.)

He hears that yawn, and he smiles.]

It doesn't matter to me! Are you tired?

[ She nods, but knowing it goes unseen, makes sure to verbalise as well. ]

Yeah. I'm not needed for clean up... until the morning, for whatever's left over.

[ open ] 'cause baby you're a firework

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)