lap eight // day 271 (open) // IT'S PARTY TIME

[amphibian]

Who: EVERYBODY
Open: Open
When: 271
Where: In the empty space around the monument!
What:

PARTY MINGLE GO
Format: DO AS YOU PLEASE AND FOLLOW YOUR HEART
Warnings: If anything comes up, put it in the subject lines!


[As everyone wakes up bright and early this morning, it isn't going to be hard to miss what's changed in the empty space around the monument Just in case, though, signs with indicating arrows line the campground where the Bastion's newest guests are staying, reading, in Ura, "This way to the party!"—wait, party?

Oh yes. Anyone Aoi had managed to grab the day before ought to be prepared for this. A great big banner stretched on two poles over the monument reads "Welcome to the Bastion!", written in Ura again; there's a little variation between the handwriting, since Zanya wrote some and Zahi wrote others.

Every last piece of the area that can have something hanging from it does: Zuko's lanterns hang off all the nearby trees, and her streamers, mostly red and sometimes gold, line absolutely everything, including but not limited to all the chairs and tables Ryu got together and helped arrange. Other things you're apt to find everywhere: flowers. Between the Psiioniic, the Disciple, Ghaleon, and Crona, there are more flowers than anyone could ever figure out what to do with. Aoi's best has been done, though: garlands are hung up around furniture, tied around tree trunks, woven through branches, strung between the branches of adjacent trees, wrapped 'round the monument, and so on and so on. A lot of care has been put into making sure they look good instead of just being thrown every which-way.

A few mismatched vases sitting on the tables have some flowers sticking out of them, too—perhaps exactly enough in each to make a flower crown, hmm? There are no party hats, so some improvising will have to be done.

There's all manner of tasty treats placed on all the tables, of course: a platter of picked donuts is to be expected, given Aoi's hand in all this (and thanks to Naegi, there are plenty to go around and they're arranged almost elaborately), but Rin, Zia, and Mirielle have provided all manner of homemade goodies that aren't just Aoi's favorite desserts. Bon's made a cake that Aoi has proudly placed in the center of one round table and surrounded with the rest of the desserts.

Instead of food, one table has a chalkboard propped up on it instead, with a box of colorful chalk beside it. Aoi's already written a small message in the corner—Thank you, everyone! with a smiley face beside it—and doodled a couple of flowers around the edges. The board's five feet long and there's plenty of chalk to go around, so there's certainly room for collaborating on something!

Not far from all the food sits the enormous stack of Legos Aoi purchased at Ibuki's suggestion. Legos. Please keep your shoes on, for the love of god. Some of them have already been arranged to form half the outside of a floor and a chunk of wall up to Aoi's chest so everyone has an idea of what's supposed to be done with things, but there are more than enough to start new projects. On the other side of the monument, closer to the collection of shop buildings than the gazebo, the soccer nets Otoha and Takamura built out of Skyway scraps have been set up (flowers have been woven in and out of the netting, of course). Aoi's brought out not one, but two of the soccer balls given to her during the festival, just in case of a soccer ball malfunction or if the game gets big enough that everyone decides rules are for losers and the only way to play soccer is with multiple things to kick. In the absence of paint, Aoi has decided to use more streamers as field markers.

At the gazebo not far off (naturally, it's covered in streamers and flowers as well), there's a set of speakers and an amplifier ready for use—Ibuki's, of course, and the little note Aoi's written that reads "For Ibuki-chan!" (with the wrong characters for her name, but points for effort) confirms it. Her equipment from Colin has all been set up, too: the spotlights on the top and bottom of the gazebo will shine in all sorts of colors when Ibuki turns them on, and there are some additional bits and pieces to the sound system to help make everything that much noisier. Aside from hanging decor, the space in front of the gazebo has been left empty so that there's enough room to dance!

To the side of the gazebo and just behind it is the unreasonably long rope Shing somehow managed to scrounge up. Like absolutely everything else, it has a chain of flowers wrapped around it. A streamer's been tied around the very center of it in a bow, and hopefully that makes its intended purpose as a tool of tug-of-war obvious enough.

If Aoi has anything to say about it, this is going to be the best goddamn welcome party ever.

Enjoy the festivities!]

Comments

[daughterofursa]

[Ah. A rare Rin sighting.]

Haven't seen much of you lately.

You doing all right?

[Yes that is definitely a glance towards her stomach. Is there a verdict on that? It would explain why she's been in hiding so much.]

[hellpyre]

Huh-- ... oh.

[Yeah, she caught that look.]

Yeah. I finally told Yuki...

[And no, he wasn't happy about it. But he was professional and actually helped her figure out just what the hell was going on.]

Turns out that whole mess with the sickness that came through and me just bein' stressed in general made my body act all weird and shit. It was just crap timin' for it.

[She sighs and puts the fork down on the plate, running a hand through the mess of her hair.]

I'm still feelin' crappy and queasy and crap but Yuki gave me some stuff to help with that and it should go away eventually.

[daughterofursa]

So you're not...

[Zuko smiles a little.]

That must have been a relief.

[hellpyre]

Y-yeah...

[It was more of a relief that Yukio didn't attempt to murder Bon for it.

But yes, she's happy that things are alright and she's not going to be adding to the population of the Bastion by accident.]

I'd rather plan it, y'know? I ain't against havin' a family but not while I can still barely take care of myself.

[daughterofursa]

Yeah.

Even if I had someone to build a family with, I'd still want to wait a few years.

[hellpyre]

You don't have anyone? I thought--

[Or were those just rumors? She had been out of the loop lately...]

Ah--... heh. N-never mind.

[daughterofursa]

You thought what? Has someone been talking about me?

[Who would they even be talking about? It's not like she's been...

Shit.

Did she talk to Ibuki?]

[hellpyre]

[Yes, but not about this.]

... erm. Ryuuji mentioned you and Aoi had been spendin' a lotta time together.

[Not in any salacious or gossip-y way, of course. That's not how he is. He was just keeping Rin updated on the things she had been missing lately.]

[daughterofursa]

We're friends.

And we're both women. [Do you see how the conclusion you drew makes no sense even though it's at least 50% accurate? Do you?]

[hellpyre]

[Do you see how defensive you're being, Zuko? Because Rin does.

And she raises an eyebrow in response to that.]

What does that have to do with anything? So you're gay, who the hell cares?

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko narrows her eyes back at her.]

Do I look happy that people are spreading weird rumors about me?

[Yeah she doesn't. know that usage of the word gay.

Also she never looks happy??]

[hellpyre]

[Oh lord Zuko...]

Homosexual. It means homo-- it means you're attracted to the same sex. God, sometimes I forget what kinda worlds other people come from.

[daughterofursa]

I'm not- that. Okay?

[She's not ready to admit it, even if Rin isn't acting like it's a bad thing. But it's not normal. She's always felt that if anyone knew, they'd see it as one more thing that's wrong with her.]

...I didn't know there were words for people like that.

[Cautiously feeling this out. Maybe Rin's known someone else like her?]

[hellpyre]

Fine, fine...

[Keep denying it, Zuko. Rin is pretty sure if she can see it, others can, too.]

There are. Lotsa words, actually. A lotta people aren't just straight, y'know? I mean it's still somethin' that some people in my world have stupid problems with but the way I see it you love who you love and fuck what other people say.

[daughterofursa]

That's a pretty simple way of looking at it.

[Things might be different here than back home, maybe, if there aren't any of those people with "stupid problems" about it. But there's still at least one person whose opinion on it kind of matters a lot. And she has no idea what it is.]

[hellpyre]

Why the hell shouldn't it be simple? Why make love complicated? That's just dumb. It's suppose to make you happy, not stressed out and upset and drowning in drama all the time.

If the person you like makes you happy and they're happy with you then the rest doesn't matter.

[Sage advice from a perpetual idiot.]

[daughterofursa]

It mattered before. I had duties to my nation.

I thought I'd be in an arranged marriage, like my parents.

[And be supremely unhappy with it, like they were.]

[hellpyre]

Ew.

Well, you ain't there now, are you?

[Not that it should take the end of the world for some one to be allowed happiness, but that was the situation they were in currently.]

[daughterofursa]

No. I'm not.

[She's still not sure where that puts her. She can't "build a family" with Aoi. It doesn't work like that.]

[hellpyre]

[How about we start with "getting together with Aoi" first?]

Then why not take a chance while you've got the place to do it?

[daughterofursa]

[Because that's something she's actually capable of attempting.

Does not trying make her a coward? She's never been afraid to go after something she wanted before. It's just... she thought those things were actually possible.]

...

Like you, with Ryuuji?

[hellpyre]

[It makes her human. But it also means she's willingly giving up on the chance to have something great, and Rin really doesn't want to see that. Whatever happiness they can find here needs to be held on to tightly.]

... I hide my feelings from him back home. I figured there was no chance in hell that he'd ever wanna be with a demon, even one he was sharin' a class with.

[Pun... kind of intended.]

I almost lost him for good. He coulda never made it here and I'd be left with nothin' but regret that I lost out on somethin' good. I was lucky. Not everyone is. Especially here.

[daughterofursa]

...

I know I can't know... what another person thinks of me, unless I ask, but...

I don't want to do anything to ruin it, unless I have to.

[hellpyre]

Y'can still be friends with some one if they don't return your feelings. And if it bothers them that much then maybe they weren't some one worth bein' friends with in the first place.

Just put it out there. You don't want to lose their friendship but you gotta be honest for the sake of it.

[daughterofursa]

Of course she's-- All my friends are worth it.

And if any of you had a problem with me, I couldn't blame you.