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]

Hm.

[It's not the first time something she's done has been called "Chinese." She's pleased they look good though.]

No, she must have sent someone else after those. Or a lot of someones. [They wound up with a lot of flowers.]

[bulletofhope]

... would explain all the flowers, at least.

[ Hope no one's allergic to them, otherwise this whole party is suffering. ]

Think they got enough for this whole party, or what...?

[daughterofursa]

More than enough. I don't know what we'd do with more.

[I mean. They put them in the football nets and everything.]

[bulletofhope]

. . . make flower crowns for everyone who came by?

[ Hey, it would sound like something they'd do... ]

[daughterofursa]

Flower crowns?

[bulletofhope]

You know... uh, headpieces that you can make out of flowers.

[ Zuko, do you seriously not know what he's talking about... ]

[daughterofursa]

I can't say I've ever done that.

[bulletofhope]

... really? No one's showed you how to make one?

[ . . . Zuko...

How are you going to charm your Asahina if you don't know how to do something so basic... ]

[daughterofursa]

[With tea and donuts and failure.]

No. It's not the most useful skill.

[bulletofhope]

... ah. You know, what if she asks you to make some with her? What would you do then?

[ A beat. ]

And don't say you'd ask her, because what if she doesn't know how to make them either?

[daughterofursa]

I'd-

[Yeah, that's exactly what she would have said.]

Well, why would anyone expect me to be able to teach them? Do I look like someone who sits around making flower crowns?

[bulletofhope]

... no, but. To be fair, it's not like there's much else we can do outside of keeping an eye on things in the Bastion and the occasional Skyway adventure...

[ . . . Naegi DOES have a point there... ]

... I could teach you if you'd like?

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko quirks her eyebrow at him. Between Bastion things and not-so-occasional Skyway trips, she keeps herself pretty busy. But, they are at a party...]

... Sure. Why not?

[bulletofhope]

All right... here, it'll be easier at one of the tables.

[ Naegi gestures for Zuko to follow him to the nearby table, where there's a lot of flowers from the decorating party strewn about. ]

[daughterofursa]

[Zuko follows and idly picks up one of the flowers. Then she looks expectantly at Naegi. What does she do with this.]

[bulletofhope]

[ Well, you don't do anything with just one. Naegi glances at the flower she's holding, then gestures to grab another one. ]

You'll want two, maybe three of those. Just enough so that you can form the stems into a circular shape that fits your head.

[daughterofursa]

Okay.

[She takes another one and

ineffectually attempts to twist the stems together.]

[bulletofhope]

[ . . .

Well, that's not technically wrong...

Naegi has to stop, though, and wander over to see what she's doing. ]

.... almost! You need to tie the stems together once you've twisted them so that they stay together. Otherwise it'll fall apart while you're adding the rest of the flowers to it.

[daughterofursa]

[And then she breaks the stem in trying to tie a knot.

No no she's got this.

She'll just grab another one and this time there is some success. I mean, they're holding together anyway, but it's probably a good thing flowers don't need much help looking pretty.]

[bulletofhope]

[ . . . well, at least you got it, that's what counts?

Naegi nods encouragingly, taking his flower rope and fitting it around his head. ]

Yeah, like that!

Okay, so... once you have a flower rope that's long enough, you tie it into a circle large enough that it fits on your head. Like so.

[daughterofursa]

[Like this? Yeah, there we go. She sets the flower circle on her head, managing not to get it caught on her top-knot.]

...

We look ridiculous.

[bulletofhope]

... well, yeah, but it's a party. I think we're allowed some leeway here...

[ Said as Naegi ties a few more flowers to his crown before putting it on his head. ]

[daughterofursa]

Are you saying we're supposed to look ridiculous at parties?

[bulletofhope]

Not necessarily ridiculous... I mean, someone here finds them cute, I'm sure...!

[ NAEGI... ]

[daughterofursa]

Maybe on some people...

[Some people who are not her but might be Aoi.]