THE TANABATA FESTIVAL

[goldless]

[ It's a breezy summer day on Isle Bermuda. There are gulls crying, a few lazy clouds, and plenty of sunshine with a cooling wind.

Today also happens to be a special event! It's time for Tanabata, and seemingly out of nowhere, a thicket of bamboo has sprung up in the trees near the shoreline. Speaking of the beach, a festival seems to be underway; there are lanterns strung up, fresh food, and plenty of goat-people selling fresh food and games.

The festival goes long into the evening, so don't miss it!

The tradition of Tanabata, as you will notice, is to write a wish on a tag and hang it from a bamboo tree. So make a wish and hope for the best! ♥ And what's this? A mysterious, female voice is drifting along, carried by the wind; ]

The bamboo leaves rustle,
shaking away in the eaves.
The stars twinkle
on the gold and silver grains of sand.
The five-colour paper strips
I have already written.
The stars twinkle,
they watch us from heaven.

Comments

[fabricatedworld]

[ Ib is just a little bit surprised to see the island so decorated when she walks out of her room, carried by the voice in the air. Lanterns and stalls line the newly-grown bamboo thicket and it makes it a little difficult to find her way around.

But she knows of the festival--Tanabata, that's the name--as she's gone to it once or twice with her parents. But this year, she's alone. That thought is what encourages her to grab a small slip of pink paper and an ink pen to write her wish on it as soon as she nears the booths.

"I want to go eat macarons with Garry soon."

She's a little embarrassed about it, though, so she tries to hide it behind her back as she finds a place to hang it up. ]

[recklessice]

[Too bad for Ib, Kaito saw everything from the back. He squats down silently to see the tag between Ib's fingers, and the name is visible.]

Macaroons with Garry. Hmm... Sounds like a date.

[He didn't mean to say that out loud.]

[chainsomnia]

[Ah, Tanabata...when was the last time we actually wrote wishes on pieces of paper or anything like that? At first Urotsuki's sort of just wandering around a bit listlessly, not quite sure what she wants to do here. She's got one of those tags in her hands, but it's blank, nothing written on it yet. She doesn't really know what she would wish for.

Or whether it would actually come true at all, for that matter.]

[dreamspace]

[ Well it's not like Mado's is any less blank. ]

[a_smile]

[Tanabata, hun? it would be nice if a place like this showed up in his dream. he'd even take his sister at some point.

but for now Smile is wandering around with a blank wish tag in his hand. what to wish for...? there was a lot of things, after all.]

[chainsomnia]

[We're a bit distracted with the festival, so Urotsuki almost doesn't notice when she's heading straight towards you until you're practically less than a foot in front of her. She stops just short a foot away, nearly tripping over her own feet in the process. Oops...]

[free_lancer]

[Lancer walks among the bamboo calmly. He'd been summoned in late winter, so he wasn't around for Tanabata in Japan, but he still knows of it. It's a strange concept, but he's in a strange land.

He takes a piece of paper and a nearby pen. He has a bit of trouble at first with the ballpoint, but he's writing beautifully soon enough and hangs it gently, smiling at it. He wasn't sure if the note should be signed or not, so he decided against it.]

[emptyguardian]

[Maybe this pale as fuck Japanese kid can help you.]

Pretty nice handwriting for someone who was stumbling with a pen.

[recklessice]

[Someone looks cheerful today, especially this guy who're having the festival only six year. He got all excited with it. Until he spotted a tag where they can write wishes. Hey, he knows this!

Without hesitate, he writes down 'I want ice creams' and hangs the tag on the bamboo tree. Welp, hopefully he got them sooner.]

[free_lancer]

Don't you already have ice cream?

[slashyslashy]

[Tao has already hung up her tag with the wish "send more meat buns" on it.

Now she's off trying to catch fish, staring at them with predatory hunger.]

[404_knight]

[Robo-Ky inspects the tag.

And then Tao.

Then the tag.

Then Tao again.]

Your meat buns look fine to me.

[across]

[ Elgala has written "To fall in love with someone rich and powerful" on her tag, and hung it up dutifully. ]

There. That looks good.

[familyofpervs]

My how very vain.

[Suddenly a Medaka. Shockingly not dressed for the occasion.]

Although I guess I couldn't blame such a wish.

[not_so_paper_thin]

That's a bit of a strange wish.

[ricochetbullets]

[Has no wishes to hang, is too busy wandering around and getting food and beating them games like a boss]

Man we should get stuff like this more often!

[lunamancy]

[ Luna is holding the wish tag with unicorn magic, which reads, I wish to see my Sister again. ]

[path_of_heaven]

[Tendou just walks right past Luna.

Doesn't stop for the wishes, doesn't stop for giant horse with cosmic hair, just keeps on going.]

[path_of_heaven]

[Tendou stares at the wishes for a moment and then picks up a tag, turns it over in his hand and places it back without making a single wish.]

Foolish.

[hersaga]

[Her tag says "World Conquest" with an amendment of "and stabilized economic status" at the bottom.]

[across]

... Just a tad unreasonable.

[checkoutthesedecks]

[Dear god, what happened to him? How did he wake up on this beach? Must have been something he smoked. In fact, he still feels a little fuzzy.

As he wanders into the island--oh hello, street festival. Woah, so many things going on. All the partying and goat people and colors...yeah, Spike's busy staggering around, staring with his dazed half-lidded expression.]

[lunamancy]

[ oh it's the tiny dragon who rides on the one called Twilight Sparkle.

:|a ]

[pishirogane]

[Naoto doesn't recall being anywhere near a beach when she fell asleep the evening before. Dragging herself to her feet, she wiped her jacket clean of sand and observed her surroundings.]

[Hearing music and seeing the distant lights of Tanabata, she approached the festival warily and proceeded to make her way through. Perhaps someone would be kind enough to explain the situation to her.]

[fabricatedworld]

[ Ib is busy trying to hang her wish tag up on a strand of bamboo near the entrance to the festival.

Unfortunately for her, it's a little too tall, so she's grasping on her tip-toes and stretching out her fingers to try to reach it. She doesn't notice Naoto walk by, not yet. ]

[maidofecstasy]

[Yakui has absolutely no idea how she ended up in this festival, but she is so totally down for it. She's already written up a tag...

... Of course, what's written on the tag is a prescription for a heavy drug with hallucinatory side-effects, with a scrawled note on the bottom that says only "Peyote!" The addled-looking maid is pretty cheerily hanging it up now... on the wrong tree.]

[404_knight]

Hey.

[Robo-Ky holds up a small plastic bag with some sort of dried plant matter.]