Let the Festival Begin [Day 143 | Day 144]

[bastionmods]

Who: EVERYONE
Open: Open
When: Day 143 & 144
Where: All over the Bastion
What: The first two days of the Harvest Festival
Format Any
Warnings: None

For the past week or so, it may feel like to some that the Bastion is gearing up for something. And not anything bad, either. Something good and oh so needed. It's not just the people, the Caels and the Ura that are aware of what the coming days would mean if the world was still intact. It's like the very Bastion itself has suddenly gained new life, and there's a power over it that's greater than any person, creature or Core.

Anyone who is still awake as dawn breaks over the Bastion may find themselves inexplicably tired for no reason at all, and unable to give in to an intense need to close their eyes, just for a moment.

When everyone wakes, and I do mean everyone, the Bastion will be transformed. Decorations, lights strung across every angle, wreaths, tables with colorful cloths over them, streamers and banners and so much stuff just seemingly out of nowhere! The entire Bastion, suddenly a vibrant, beautiful place for a celebration. And not just any celebration.

The Harvest Festival!

Comments

[hellpyre]

[That earns a snort, but if he could see her face he'd see that she was actually smiling a little, if only for a second.]

After that last mission, though...

[She can't help it. The doubt always seems to worm its way back in to her, no matter how much she tries to fight it. She doesn't want to go down that road again, screaming to the heavens questions that don't have answers and unable to open her sword, but the longer she's here the more she toes that line again and again.]

[freedom_engineer]

After that last mission, I hope you realize that's what we've got teams for.

[Colin keeps right on grinning.]

You did just fine for circumstances you couldn't have foreseen. You followed my commands to save your life, and you survived.

Yeah, you took some lumps, but you survived. And you showed up when we needed you. Nobody can ask anything more of you.

Who cares if I had to pull you out of the Fire... supressant? We keep this up, you're gonna save my ass plenty. And everyone else's too.

We each bring skills to the table. We each are here for the others.

[Yeah, he's not in charge of engineering because of nepotism. He may not be the most understandable person, but he knows how to at least keep a crew running.]

[hellpyre]

I just don't wanna be the weak link, y'know? Back home I was always playin' the hero, I was always puttin' myself in the way 'cause I thought that's what I should do. I could handle it! If anyone was gonna come out of a scrape against a demon alive it was gonna be me!

[she sighs heavily, going to check on the crust before moving back to the counter, resting against it with her arms crossed over her chest.]

But... my friends kept tellin' me I didn't have to do that... and in Kyoto...

[She pauses as her face screws up in an almost pained expression. She's not physically hurting, of course (even if Pyth did give her a run for her money) but it's something emotional that's getting to her. She doesn't even know why she's blathering on like this when before she had been so reluctant to tell Colin much of anything.]

I lost confidence in myself. The more I went forward the more scared of myself I got. I'd get control, but then I'd lose it again. I almost hurt Bon over a stupid argument to the point where Shura had to knock me out!

When I woke up... I couldn't pull Kurikara.

[She paused again, pressing a thumb to the side of her nose and closing her eyes.]

We still won. Me and Bon, we worked together and stopped the Impure King together. But ever since the Calamity happened... ever since we got here I just... feel it creepin' up on me. Again and again. Two steps forward and ten back and I'm just--...

[Yet another stop, but this time she looked at Colin.]

Can you really trust me? Knowin' how close I've come to losin' control of everythin'? What if the next time you need to get your ass pulled outta the fire it's my fire? I don't wanna do that to my friends.

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin leans back against the wall, and he looks like the epitome of a relaxed veteran. He looks Rin up and down, doing it purely for show, and he nods.]

Don't see any reason why I shouldn't. So you're part demon, big deal. So you could lose control, big deal.

We've all got skeletons in our closet. That doesn't make us bad people. It just makes us people.

You don't gotta hold yourself back. If you can be the hero, then, by the gods... BE the hero! Someone's gotta do it, may as well be you!

[He grins wider, uncrosses his arms, and points at her again.]

You're scared? You're nervous? Good. That means you're still in control, enough to worry that you might not be. You wanna know when I'm gonna start worrying about you? When that worry inside you STOPS. Yeah, you're a demon. But you're also a human. But that doesn't matter either. You know what matters?

You're Rin Okumura. THAT'S the only thing that matters.

[hellpyre]

[She's not really sure what to say to that. She's grateful to hear it, yes, but it contradicts everything everyone has been telling her for the past year. It contradicts the Gregori's standing on her, Angel's opinion of her and what she is, Shura's treatment of her as a student and a person and most importantly it contradicts Yuki's constant nagging that she needs to be far more in control of herself if she's ever going to become Paladin.

Rin lets out a soft laugh at that and shakes her head slowly.]

You'd get laughed out of the Order with an attitude like that...

[And the smile fades in to another pained expression, eyes burning faintly as she stares at the floor.]

But... thanks... I'unno if it's gonna help me much but it's nice to hear...

[freedom_engineer]

Hey, you know what an organization is?

[Colin grins and crosses his arms]

Just a group of people with a set of ideas. You keep following what everyone else says, you're never gonna find who YOU are.

I'm sure your Order's good people. I don't mean to make light of them. But I don't even agree with the Corsican military's stance on things half the time.

As is? They come to me when they need things done.

[He's plenty proud when he says that.]

But don't listen to me. And DON'T listen to them. Listen to YOU. Find what works for you. You find a teacher that works for you? You do what they say. Everyone, EVERYONE has a different way of doing things. No two ways are ever going to be exactly the same for different people.

Just find what will help you... and listen to that. Even if you don't like what it says. If it works for you? That's what matters.

[hellpyre]

If we were back home, I wouldn't be able to listen to that. ... I ain't gonna say why just... take my word for it. It is what it is there and I really can't change a whole lot where I was standin' when everything ended.

Just know that I was workin' towards a goal I actually wanted and come hell or high water I was gonna get it. No matter what knocks I took along the way...

[But she did worry, sometimes, that she'd wind up back in that prison again. Regardless of how Yuki would accuse her of being too cavalier about the situation, it was on her mind.]

I guess this is a different chance though, innit? Here, I mean...

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin looks at her a little more intently for a moment, and he grins slightly.]

Blackmail? Or the law holding something over your head? Which is just another kind of blackmail.

Either way. If you never listen to anything else I say... listen to this. No matter what happens. No matter who holds what over your head. If you're staring down the barrel of a gun and you can see the bullet... You still have the ability to choose for yourself.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to control you. Anyone who tells you otherwise wants you to feel you can't choose any way but their way.

I'm not saying you had a good choice... I'm not even saying you chose wrong. You did what you thought you had to do to reach your goal. Just... remember. You can ALWAYS choose. And more importantly, you can choose something that isn't presented to you. The universe is shaped by people who make their own path.

[He shuts his eyes and his grin changes to a smile.]

You've got a whole new set of choices now. Yeah, it's different. But everything's different. It's just what you make of it.

[hellpyre]

[She sighs, rolling her eyes along with her head to give him a flat look. Of course he'd press the issue.]

They were. They lifted it right before I got here. But that's not it. I had a goal I wanted to get to, and the only way to do it was through them. And don't act like there was some other way because it's "always your choice" or whatever-- the only way I was ever gonna get to be Paladin was by playin' by their rules.

[Her lips draw in to a tight line, and she returns her gaze to the floor, scowling bitterly.]

The truth? All of it? I didn't know what I was. Fifteen years, I thought I was human. I was told I was human. Last year, that all changed. The seal on the sword broke and my powers came out. I was on every demon's radar, and Satan decided he wanted his daughter back.

The old man-- ... Fujimoto died protectin' me.

See... what I chose to do? That was me choosin' my own path. 'cause the other options given to me were to kill myself or turn myself in and let the Order kill me.

Y'know what I told that stuffed shirt Mephisto?

[Her head lifted, and this time there were no hints of tears, just a look of determination, and a lack of that shaken confidence that had been present so much recently.]

Make me an exorcist! I'll kick Satan's ass for what he did!

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin opens his eyes again as Rin starts going, and he listens to her intently. As she finishes off, he gives a low whistle, and he nods.]

Well, sounds like I had you figured wrong. Where's this part of you been all this time?

Still, that's good. That's strong. Not what I would have done, but that's okay. Your way is your way, nobody else's.

Sorry for the incorrect assumption.

[He raises his hand in apologetic concession.]

[hellpyre]

[Rin lets out a snort through her nose, but any of that bravado leaves pretty quickly as he asks that question. She groaned, pressing hands to her face as she slumped against the counter.]

I'unno... I don't know! I used to be like that all the damn time! Hell, the shit in Kyoto knocked me down but I was right back up again! This place... it's got me all kinds of fucked up. Every time I think I've got it together again somethin' else comes along and I feel like... like shit again!

[She drops her hands to her sides, shoulders going down with them.]

I don't even tell Bon this. Closest I got was sayin' I was gonna stay off the Skyway missions for a while after I almost lost my damn mind a few back.

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin watches her for a moment, and then he wordlessly steps away from the wall and walks over to her.]

Hey, Rin? Come 'ere.

[Not like he's giving her much choice in the matter. He's going to grab her in a hug.]

Armageddon can have that effect on a person. You don't gotta be strong all the time.

Or maybe you do. But you don't gotta do it alone.

[hellpyre]

[Come-- what hug why

Rin lets out a noise that might have been a surprised squeak (she will deny it forever) but... surprisingly, Colin does not wind up punched through the far wall.

She doesn't really hug back. It wasn't even bad. Doesn't stop her from being awkward about it, though.]

... thanks...

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin doesn't need a hug back, and he won't detain her for long. But for now, he gets the feeling that she needed a little support beyond words.]

Any time, Rin-Rin.

I know you aren't having an easy time of things. Nobody is, except me. And that says better things about you than it does me.

[hellpyre]

[There's a soft sigh from her, and a rubbing at her face, but after that all she does is give Colin a gentle punch in the arm.]

If you really wanna call me somethin'... cute I'd let you call me Rin-chan without punchin' you in the face.

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin doesn't mind the punch in the arm in the slightest. If anything, it makes him smile.]

If you don't like the nickname, I can change it.

But that's how I met you, it's kinda stuck in my brain now. Cute doesn't factor into it.

Promise.

[hellpyre]

I know. It's just weird. "RinRin" [said closer to "LinLin" this time] sounds like an idol from a pop group and that's... really not me, y'know?

'course Rin-chan is weird too cause no one ever calls me that. Back home all the boys just called me Okumura.

[freedom_engineer]

Next time you meet someone new, introduce yourself as Awesome von Kickass, or something else equally amazing and inappropriate.

It's a bit egotistical, but it'll make for good nicknames.

[He's aiming to lighten the mood a bit]

[hellpyre]

...

[Yeah not even Rin is that egotistical, Colin.]

That's somethin' you should do.

[freedom_engineer]

Hi, I named myself after a spell of ultimate destruction and I introduce myself by that name all the time.

[He grins down at her, no, he's not kidding.]

[hellpyre]

Well then I think you've got us covered in the massive ego department.

[God Colin do you ever listen to yourself?]

[freedom_engineer]

Just as gods tower above man, my ego towers above all others.

[He's actually PROUD of that fact. Yes, he hears himself... He's just quite confident in himself, and sees no reason to hide it.]

[hellpyre]

... I want to punch you again but I feel like you'd enjoy it.

[freedom_engineer]

Even if I didn't, just the fact that I've got you questioning it gives me an advantage.

[He's the smuggest thing since smug came to Smug-town]

[hellpyre]

Ugh!

[That's it. She just throws her hands up and goes to check on the crust.

Nope, not gonna do this anymore Colin.]