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RP Hanami Festival of YE 38

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Shiho looked between her various comrades, and the officer-white in feathers. Banners and manners, even the Admiral seemed a bit lenient... But then, her view started to pan sideways as the burly Neko found her feet pulled towards the buffet. Some concern over her fellow comrades, but an immediate concern was in her stomach. Faster metabolism, and a day of basically feasting on scraps meant that some sort of exotic admiralty feast was all sorts of welcome; she hadn't even been requested to pay!

"I guess it would be pretty bad to just turn a back on my friends from Orochi..." Shiho said over her shoulder, quite literally having turned her back on the group to investigate food. Her food. "I'd be interested in transferring, if there's still open placements."
 
"We can take them on," Hanako nodded to her new Elysian clerk, referring to Shiho and Junko. "With all these infantry soldiers joining, we should probably choose a mission with ground combat for our next adventure," she pondered aloud. After all, there was something to be said for keeping morale up by letting them fulfill their purposes. "I will be back under the tree," she added, slipping away from the buffet to return the quilts under the cherry blossom trees.

When she turned around she encountered Aoi and Sho, and to their question, she replied: "Many of us are soldiers, but there are civilians here as well. It is a public event and we are here on leave. Excuse me," Hanako added, and kept going. She wanted to see the Hidden Sun Clan family again. Finding Teta with Tetes in her lap, Hanako smiled. "You have a beautiful child. How old is she?"
 
"Ah, sorry. I apologize if we bothered you. We just wanted to say thank you for protecting us." Sho said with a smile and bowed in a polite fashion before heading back to their picnic. "Let's go Aoi. We got to go have some fun and leave them to theirs. Ikuzo!" They left to go and have some fun, as they said and returned to their mother. "Now don't you two go wandering off without me. Those people are taking a break from a very exhausting job and while I didn't think you bothered them, you need to give them some space, ok?" Their mother said. Aoi and Sho nodded and ate some more of their lunch and after eating chased falling cherry blossom leaves around their picnic site.
 
"Yes ma'am!" she chirps in reply, adding Shiho's name to the file transfer list as well from the open Orochi roster. Doing as she'd done with Freyja and Junko, she gave their third new Nekovalkyrja's record a glance. She shot the red Neko a satisfied smile a moment later, "It looks like you're in, Ishii-san. Although at this rate we'll hit the Table of Organization limit pretty fast. Although..."

Watching Hanako's back recede as the Admiral returned to the tree with her food, Mehitabel licked her lips thoughtfully, "...it certainly sounds like she intends to put you all to work."
 
Teta gave her daughter one of her toys. A stuffed toy that was shaped like Tesgi's starship. She smiled at Hanako's compliment. "Thank you. Tetes turned two mai, or years in your language just after the previous International Conference. She is the first citizen of the Clan to have been born on a world that belonged to another people since the exodus. Of course she does not understand any of that. She just gets much attention from visitors. Tetes is a precocious child and now that she can walk and run, she keeps us busy."

Tetes at that moment got to her feet and padded towards Hanako. Holding the green toy up for Hanako to see she looked up with bright blue eyes.

Tesgi meanwhile returned with a plate of assorted items and sat next to Teta,
 
Astridr sighed and sat back on the small blanket, patting her stomach after a good festival meal. Her golden eyes drifted over to her friends as Aki was telling Daisuke a particularly rude joke that had the Minkan blush profusely and collapse into a fit of giggles. A pang of sadness ran through Astridr then with a sudden realization: she might never see her friends again after this. The pink-haired neko blinked hard and closed her eyes, tears welling up behind her lashes. Aki broke away from Daisuke, concern etched into her face.

"Hey, it's OK, Asta," Aki said reassuringly, patting Astridr on the shoulder and using her familiar name. Astridr looked up and swallowed hard, shaking her head and managing a nervous smile.

"I just...I don't want to see you guys go..." Astridr said through a sob, her golden eyes swimming and tears streaking her cheeks.

Aki nodded and wrapped her arms around her friend, holding Astridr close and rocking her gently, cooing and stroking her pink hair soothingly. "I know, I know. It's gonna be hard, huh? We've been through so much together, after all." Aki smiled sadly, wiping away a tear from her eyes. "But! It's not like we'll never see each other again, right? We'll keep in touch, for sure! And whenever we find ourselves back here on leave, well you can be sure that Aki will treat you both to a good time!" Daisuke had moved up close by and nodded in agreement, giving a reassuring smile.

Astridr chuckled and wiped her eyes against her friend's shirt, before nodding and smiling gently. "Thanks Aki," she said simply, worried she would burst into tears again. Aki smiled wide and ruffled her friend's pink hair, then set it back straight. "Don't worry about it, sweetie. Now, why don't we go introduce ourselves to the Shosho? Not every day you get to meet a legend, after all," Aki winked and kissed Astridr's forehead before standing and helping her friend up.

The trio brushed off their uniforms and rolled up their blanket before heading toward the crowd that had formed around the Shosho. Aki looked around, frowning upon not finding Hanako in sight. "Just missed her, I guess," Astridr mused, while Aki approached Mehitabel and gave a short bow, "Hey, was the Shosho here? We're new recruits and wanted to introduce ourselves," the blonde-haired neko said, pointing her thumb back toward Daisuke and Astridr, who both gave small waves.
 
Hanako smiled and lifted Tetes of the ground and held her. "What do you have?" Hanako asked the little girl.

As the festivities continued, two winds picked up and a light rain began to come down from the cloudy night skies. Flashes of blue lightning were visible in the distance along with the faint rumbles of thunder.
 
Tetes waved the toy, "Tin, tin... shhip." she said. When the rain hit her she squealed in delight.

Teta looked at the weather, "Well, even on the World Station the weather can be unpredictable. But planet side the weather tends to be much more spectacular. Sadly this looks like the end of the festival. I know you are a busy person, but if you are ever in the area. Feel free to contact us. We can show you the hospitality of the Embassy, or we can dine out in the city."

Tesgi scooped up the spread and rolled it up to make it easy to carry. He came over to the others. "Well, we should probably head back to the Embassy. Can we offer you a ride Sar-Hanako? We have a ground glider."
 
As the rain began to fall, Mehitabel lifted her wings to cover up over her head. "Oh dear, I don't remember seeing rain in the forecast!" she remarks, surprised, to Shiho, "Maybe it will pass? If not, I suppose that's it for the party..."

Adding a hand to the lifted limbs, she holds her cap on against the breeze at it blows at the hem of her skirt.
 
Freyja was walking back from helping Shiho pick out food when the rain started. "Better hurry up and eat, or find a bag." She said to Shiho. I wonder where everyone will go now. Since this was her first Festival she didn't know what happened afterward. "Well.. where are you ladies going now? The party can't end like this." The blue Neko demanded to Mehitabel and the two other Infantry soldiers. "There must be a bar or something nearby, right?"
 
"There'd have to be, right downtown," the Elysian says, looking beyond the park towards the street. She pursed her lips slightly, finally finishing up with her assorted shuffling of files via computer. Looking thoughtful, Mehitabel was somewhat at a loss of what one did after such a big bash. Her first instinct was to just head back to her transient quarters to pack up for the move to Eucharis. That felt wrong though, and she found herself agreeing with Freyja, "We could see if there is anything interesting happening down the street."
 
Stepping away from the food; her various pockets now stuffed with spoils of picnic, Shiho looked up at the beginnings of a storm. One of the first few times, if not the first time she'd seen real rain... She let out a little 'huh', holding up a hand and rubbing some water between a finger and thumb. Weird. But pretty.

Walking over to the others; Shiho looked between them and did some quick mental arithmetic, before pulling off her haori and slinging it over the head and shoulders of Mehitabel. The kimono-jacket which was baggy even on Shiho easily giving cover to the Elysian, wings and all; at least if she folded them down a bit. It could have been seen as a rather chivalrous gesture, Shiho in reality just figured that it was far easier for the other two to dry their hair than it would be for Mehitabel to dry out all those feathers.

"Well, we should at least try and find some cover. I'm up for whatever..." Shiho said, as the rain started to plaster her hair against her face, and her clothing against her skin.
 
Junko quietly went to the food after the all too close faux pas. Hanako not reacting was, in hindsight, the kindest possible reaction possible. The Neko had taken the opportunity to camouflage herself into the buffet. Everything was new and stunning to her over excited senses.

She returned to her fellow infantry with a fairly oddball plate. Some rice, because it was familiar. Seafood of several different kinds and some sauces. A chunk of steak with seasonings she couldn't quite describe, finding an odd place between sweet and spicy. Oh, and a floppy shape in her hand that had been labeled a pepperoni pizza.

And then the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Light flashed in the distant clouds, a storm rolling in slow but surely. Even without the more sensitive furred ears, she could tell rain was coming. Her plate began emptying a little bit faster.

"I think I heard about some crewmen mention somewhere. The Undertow, I think?"
 
Caught unawares by Shiho's gallant gesture, Mehitabel lowered her coverts to fit beneath the jacket thrown around her shoulders. No matter where the move had originated she shot the neko an appreciative smile as the other woman ate. She felt distinctly embarrassed, however, as the others were left standing in the soaking rain. No matter how pleasant the temperature had been out, it couldn't be very enjoyable to stand in the downpour.

The slender woman stepped away long enough to discard her empty glass before returning to the circle. Seizing on Junko's suggestion, even as she hunched under the protective covering of the red neko's haori, Belle nodded, "It would be out of the rain, at least, and if it turns out to be unsatisfactory I believe a 'pub crawl' is traditional? Or was that a Trade phrase... Do you know the way, Hasegawa-san?"
 
"Down... town?" Junko supplied with an apologetic smile. "I'd only heard about it in passing, sorry. Only thing mentioned was it was somewhere downtown. Oh, and something about a boat stuck on top of the building."

"Should I try and find a change of clothes before this? I didn't know what else to wear before I came to the festival." She fussed with her hands. Uniform policy forbade intoxication in uniform, though she wasn't sure how flexible that was during off duty celebrations. Current assumption was to treat the uniform with respect at all times.

Which brought a new concern to mind: Junko didn't own anything that wasn't a uniform. If she could be said to "own" the uniforms at all. She'd have to find something now or risk losing her freshly made friends.

That idea unnerved her more than it should have.
 
"Well, you can't go in bars in uniform, no." Shiho thought on it as the rain kept falling down on her. The lot of them were getting drenched and in no right clothing to go out to bars. Bars which Shiho only vaguely knew were places people went to drink intoxicants (drink what specifically? Wine? She knew not), but were also casual social places. This meant that they would need to acquire clothing for at least two here.

"So I guess we're getting you clothes. I could use a dry shirt as well I guess." Shiho looked down and gave a little grimace at the premise of spending more money she didn't need to.
 
"Ah, as much as I appreciate the devotion to duty, ladies," Mehitabel chimed in as the rain started to drip through the light covering over her wings, "But I believe it is time to withdraw to hard cover, to consider our next move."

She didn't need to add yet that her situation was functionally identical to the two nekos; never having had any need for contemporary Yamataian civilian clothes her only non-uniform clothing items were her traditional Elysian garments. Somehow, it never really felt comfortable wearing them on her birth world, even if having her soh'k'tohs would be wonderful right now. And thus she too had worn her uniform to the festival. "I did at least pass a couple of clothing shops," she says helpfully, "Although I believe one was a secondhand store."
 
"We could group at the clothing shop and get a more concrete plan from their. Even if we decide to go back to barracks or something, we'd have grubs to use another time. And stuff for the rain, besides." Junko added. Inwardly, she reflected it was a shame the weather was moving so fast.

Any case, she fell in behind the Eucharis clerk. Technically, she probably had seniority over all of them. That and she just seemed to have a much better idea what to do than a Neko fresh off maneuvers. So she'd be trusting her judgement for the rest of the night fairly safely.
 
When Freyja realized her brand new kimono was getting soaked, she looked around frantically for cover. Seeing none, she sighed. "I could use a change of clothes too.." She nodded in response to Junko's idea. "Yes! Let's go shopping." She squeaked, grabbing Junko and Shiho's hands. The giddy Neko pulled them in the direction of downtown. "This way, Callidius-hei!"
 
Without much choice in the matter, Astridr, Aki, and Daisuke all fell in with the others as they sought shelter from the coming storm, the trio sticking together but near to Mehitabel on the off chance of getting to see the Shosho. Daisuke hefted the picnic blanket he had picked up and threw it over one shoulder, while Astridr hugged close to Aki, one arm around her waist as they moved downtown.
 
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