[ open ] 'cause baby you're a firework

[onethousen]

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!

Comments

[onethousen]

She shakes her head, refusing the apology, or at least the intent behind it. "It's okay. I know you don't like the sounds of the fireworks, and I should have been further away." She's guessing. She hadn't been in the immediate danger zone that she knew of, but that didn't mean she was actually outside of it, in the end.

"Are you feeling better now?" More calm, more anything of the sort? She tilts her blind face his direction, her eyes failing to really focus on him. She's still trying. It feels like the natural thing to do, to try and look at his face. "Now that we're further away?"

[powertotearer]

"A little." Still super embarrassed, though, but he's thinking clearly again.

"Were you having a hard time seeing it? Is that why you moved closer?"

[onethousen]

"Hm? No, I was helping set stuff up earlier. I can't see right now — that just happened a few minutes ago — so it doesn't matter how close or far I am to where they are for now."

Way to let someone know you're blind, child.

[powertotearer]

Eiji's eyes widen for a moment, but he tries to keep his voice sounding calm. He's probably scared her enough; he doesn't need to add to it.

"This is what you mentioned to me earlier, isn't it?"

[onethousen]

She hesitates before nodding. Yes and no, but it's close enough that it makes sense to agree. "It's only happened a handful of times, but yeah. I go blind for a while every so often."

On the bright side, she doesn't operate heavy machinery, drive, or take part in dangerous sporting activities, so she has yet to be in the middle of anything she can't handle when her vision's gone dark.

[powertotearer]

"And it's been happening since our eyes...since I guess the implants stopped working, if that guy is right."

Now, he forces lightness into his voice.

"It should be okay, though. You're not the only one going through something like this."

[onethousen]

Chihiro nods, offering him a small smile. "I know. Even if it were, it'd... I'd find a way for it to be okay. Me and my friends." She gives his hand another squeeze, if she still has a hold of it. "Everyone's been going through weird things together. If we don't rely on each other, then we're really only hurting ourselves. So... I'll be okay. Everyone's going to be okay. We just can't give up on figuring out what we can do to deal with everything that comes our way. And how to get home."

Home, after all, is someplace she wants to see again one day. Not someplace she wants to give up on yet.

[powertotearer]

"That was supposed to help comfort you, you know."

At least it's got him laughing a bit.

"I guess for right now, if there's anything you need, I'll help."

[onethousen]

She laughs a little in return, getting it a little late. She's almost embarrassed... but not quite. "Oh! Well, thank you! For right now, I guess I'd mostly like to..."

Honestly, what did she want to do? Need had no real factor into things. She didn't need to do much of anything in the moment. "... water?" Listening to the fireworks didn't sound like a good idea when Eiji wasn't so fond of them in the first place. Finding another focus for them both seems better. "Are any of the water bottles from earlier left over?"

[powertotearer]

"Yeah, I think so. Let me check--I'll be right back."

It's a nicer change in focus, and he's able to find a couple of bottles.

"They're not cold, though. Is that okay? Otherwise, I can try to find some ice."

[onethousen]

She shakes her head, offering him a smile. Her eyes don't quite manage to look at his face. "It's fine. They don't need to be cold or anything like that."

Chihiro holds out her hand for one of the water bottles.

[powertotearer]

He places it in her hand, making sure she's got a good grip on it.

"Sorry again, about freaking out like that. Despite that, it really was a good party."

[onethousen]

Taking it in hand, Chihiro works on twisting off the cap. It's kind of satisfying to twist it right on off.

"I'm glad you think so. I was just hoping people would have fun." Good or not good, it's all a success to her as long as a few people found a reason to smile for a while.

[powertotearer]

"I think you definitely succeeded there."

After all, even if he didn't do so good, everyone else seemed to.

[onethousen]

She takes a small sip of water. While placing the cap back on with care, she allows herself a small smile.

"Thank you." Blinking, she feels like she can sense some difference in the dark she sees. The kind that usually means her vision will start returning soon. "I think my vision's starting to come back now."

[powertotearer]

"Really? That's great!"

He breathes a sigh of relief.

"At least you'll be able to catch the end of it."

[onethousen]

"Just like the start! It's only the middle part that's all..." She makes a dismissive gesture with her hand, slowing seeing a sense of shadows against darker shadows, blocky shapes fixed in her field of vision.

[powertotearer]

"Well, the end's supposed to be the best part, right? When everything they've got left goes off?"

It's going to be very loud, and the shockwaves are really going to get to him, but he thinks he can stick it out just this once.

[onethousen]

All these thoughts occur to her too. Chihiro's quiet, considering her water bottle in her hands. She can barely see it; more an outline of lighter shadows against darker ones.

"I think so..." She brings one hand to cover her mouth, stifling a not actually faked yawn. "Though I'm feeling kind of tired..."

[powertotearer]

He can't help but laugh at that. "Looks like you wore yourself out planning all this."

And of course, that's when he yawns too.

[onethousen]

It's the perfect moment in her mind.

The perfect moment to get him away, and not have him feel bad for it, she hopes. She's seen firework finales before. She might not have her full vision back in time to see this one. So... it feels like the better thing to do, to look after a friend who's looked after her.

"Mmhmm... Eiji-san? Would you mind walking me home?"

[powertotearer]

He doesn't think too much about it, after the way they both yawned. Probably a good idea to go to bed, right?

"Of course."

He reaches down for her hand.

"You did a great job with all of this. Thanks."

[onethousen]

Evil mastermind plan achieved as she lets him take her hand, still not seeing enough to be sure she'd grab it on her own properly. The compliment makes her smile, eyes downcast as a small flush of pleasure highlights her cheeks more than usual. "Thank you."

It's nice of him to say, and him taking her home is also nice. Letting her other hand, the one holding the water bottle, fall to her side, she opens her eyes and sees what sense of shadows-against-shadows allows her to see. Right now, it's still not enough detail to be sure of where she's walking. It'll get better as they go, though.

"Thanks for coming, too."

[powertotearer]

"Thanks for inviting me. Sorry if I made anything awkward, though."

He really did have fun, up until the fireworks panic.

[onethousen]

She shakes her head, walking along with a little less exaggerated care than earlier.

"Mm, you don't need to apologise. What's more important is that you had fun." Before the fireworks set him off.