[ 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]

[ 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? ]

[gaian]

[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.]

[onethousen]

[ 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. ]

[gaian]

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?

[onethousen]

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. ]

[gaian]

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.]

[onethousen]

[ 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. ]

[gaian]

[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?

[onethousen]

[ 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.

[gaian]

[He pushes himself up, so that he's in a sitting position now.]

I can help!

[onethousen]

[ She gets to her feet, dusting herself off. ]

I'm going to touch your shoulder now, if that's okay.

[ So that he can know where she is when he stands; she doesn't want to touch him without giving him the courtesy that made her feel safer when her blindness fits hit. ]

Ah... thank you. [ She smiles; her tone of voice warms. ] We're going to have to take any non-edible trash a ways away. There's still no one in charge of general garbage here.

[gaian]

Sure, go ahead.

[He shrugs, smiling.]

That's fine by me! More exercise, right?

[onethousen]

[ Right, there's a hand on his shoulder, then moving to his upper arm and down to his elbow. Chihiro leaves her hand there and waits for him to stand. ]

Do you not get enough already? You don't exactly laze around that I've seen...

[ Not what he's saying, Chihiro... not what he's saying at all. ]