recolle | [closed] when stars smile at moon

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rokka: nachtanya augustra

[closed] when stars smile at moon

WHO: Minato, Natalia & Porsche
WHERE: Recollé Planetarium and Observatory
WHEN: January 1st, 5PM
WHAT: New Year's not!date, viewing the full moon one last time before darkness swallows the world
WARNINGS: none

[ Minato makes sure to be there at the planetarium half an hour before five, pacing back and forth in front of the building in order to keep warm. He's not the one with the tickets, so that leaves him to look out for either a prosthetic arm, a cute dog, and/or what he told Zack were the most gorgeous eyes in the world if he hadn't spent most of that encounter staring up at the ceiling or down at the floor. Either way, the sun is setting and will soon take its warmth with it, so Minato huddles in on himself, clamping a paper shopping bag in between his arm and side, and prays Natalia remembered to bring Porsche. Also that she remembered to come. ]

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[ fortunately, her eyes won't change colors until she nods off for a little nap later today before the post tonight. So Minato might well be the last person who gets to see her hazel orbs in any real detail.

That said, she is here! She's here and looks... honestly, she looks a little tired, but she's doing her best not to look so. She's here in warm clothing, she has the tickets and -

She does indeed have Porsche. The loyal pug-terrier mix is actually walking at her heels without a leash, surprisingly? But she does have a leash on her just in case. ]

[ One day he'll work up the nerve to gaze longingly into her hazel orbs, but it's hard when it's drawn immediately towards the dog. He crouches down before Porsche and opens the bag for her to sniff— inside are three bundles of something wrapped in white napkin and tied off with twine. ]

Got something for you, Porsche. And for you too.

[ He looks up at Natalia, and from his pocket, pulls out an enmusubi omamori. For love. Since her being here means she didn't get another date. ]

[ Natalia can't help but be a little bit ... mm. The emotion's weird because Porsche is the cutest and most deserving of love, but she can't help but wish that she was the center of attention? That passes quickly though when she sees how excited the dog is to meet a new person and to try to sniff in this bag. What's in the bag? The bag's cool!

Natalia takes the charm in her right hand, running it over ]

Oh, a charm, right? What's this one for?

[ It smells sweet inside the bag, faintly of carrots, from which it's easy to deduce what he's got wrapped up inside the napkins. But they're not for here and now, Minato straightening up so that he can run a finger down the characters stitched on the face of the charm. ]

This one's for love. To help find love.

[ Apparently, Google says that buying this charm for other people can be read as insulting haha... he was honestly trying to be considerate. ]

Oooooh... I guess by being here I do expose that I need it, don't I?

[ She thumbs it over herself, nodding with some appreciation and a little bit of wonder. Honestly, she should probably know more about Japanese customs than she does. A lot of what she's learned has gone in one ear and out the other, or only remembered when it was convenient. But in this instance, ]

It's good to have this around the new year. I'm pretty sure my balance is reset now.

Were you having bad luck last year?

[ Or was she not looking at all, which is Minato's case and the winter festival was just a really lucky day that he walked out of with three not!dates. ]

I hope this year's good to you, though. A full moon on the first night is auspicious, maybe?

I wouldn't say my luck was bad, just that things didn't go anywhere. That's as much my choice as anything else though... minus one big thing.

[ #fucksanji ]

But no, I think that's perfect, honestly.

[ If it's her choice not to do the whole dating thing, he's not going to push this as a (not)date at her, instead, stooping down to give Porsche a pat on the back before picking his bag up from the ground. ]

It's a new year, so let's start if off on a good foot. Let's head inside? I'm not sure if dogs are allowed though.

[ haha a great start already

but!! He lifts the bag slightly again, ]

I made soft dog biscuits. Thought maybe Porsche would stay quiet and still enough inside here to sneak her up?

She's actually quite good around strangers, but if we're going to sneak her in...

[ Hmm, her purse isn't big enough? Is his bag? Either way, she's going to bend down and gently pick the dog up in both arms, though she does end up shifting Porsche to get the door under her right elbow so as to not have to rely on the prosthetic arm. As promised, the dog is very cooperative. ]

[ It's probably less a worry about animals misbehaving than it is about fur getting into the telescopes and other delicate instruments, he thinks, but-

Minato doesn't move. ]

Are we not going to hide her...? I had a memory about something like this. Passing her off as a stuffed animal won't work.

She wouldn't fit in my purse... I suppose I could try to hide her in my coat if I zipped it up more? Do you have an idea.

[ they should.

Hide her, admittedly. ]

Mm... Let's try the coat and see if she fits.

[ And like. Can still breathe in there. ]

Shouldn't you volunteer your own?

[ But okay, she's going to unzip her coat then, gingerly handing Porsche off to Minato so Minato can help get the dor inside of her coat and then zip it back up. She leaves it there down at the bottom

under the coat she's got on a cute red blouse. ]

[ Cute.

—Porsche is cute, and Minato lowers his eyes at the dog as he holds her close, briefly, before he is blessed with the opportunity to help get the dog snug inside Natalia's coat, he can barely believe this is happening. ]

Let's head inside quickly. If it's empty up at the observatory, we can let her out for a while.

Deal!

[ Porsche does fit, but it's both snug and makes Natalia look both bigger and more lumpy, stretching the coat a little. So as to support the dog more, she plants her right (non prosthetic) arm under her stomach to help keep her there. It's going to hide her, but it does look weird and does limit her motion a little more to only have the left. As such she holds up her purse for him and, ]

The tickets are in the outside pocket.

[ Just hang in there a little more as he digs around the purse for the tickets, trying not to be too nosy about the rest of the contents. He finds them and steps forward in front of Natalia so he can hold the door open for her and half block off her bulky stomach as he hands the tickets over at the admissions counter so nobody asks questions.

It really is, like she'd said so long ago, an odd place to have a date. The building looks completely deserted... Minato pulls away from Natalia for a bit to wander the rows upon rows of seats encircling the main room like a movie theater. ]

Guess I never asked you. Do you like stars?

[ Honestly, that they're getting away with the scheme makes her smirk. This feels familiar but fun! And she settles into the background until they made it through the interior of it all.

... Man, it really is a ghost town. ]

I do. Or at least, I don't mind them and they really are pretty.

I never really got to look at them. City lights are too bright.

[ There wasn't an observatory back where he lived, so the most he could see at a glance was the moon, bright and full above them even without needing to peer through the telescope to see it. He does take control of the telescope though, adjusting the angle via the panel beside it until the moon takes up the entire field of view, and then he steps back from it, gesturing to the eyepiece. ]

The moon rabbit.

I grew up in a rural area, so I only get light pollution when I moved to Recollé.

[ She says this idly, letting Porsche out when they make it to the telescope. There's basically literally no one around and she's well behaved so... why not? The dog is pleased to be free.

But she looks quizzically at that and mouths "moon rabbit?" before looking at the telescope.

What... where? ]

[ Farmlands, Minato thinks, remembering how Zack had described his hometown, though Minato wouldn't know if it's the same place Natalia grew up in. He has more confidence in fake moon rabbits. ]

The Sea of Tranquility is its head, and Fertility and Nectar make up the ears. Do you see it now?

[ Hmm...

She looks more, humming as she tries to see it and...

... Oh! ]

Oh... oh, I think I do, now! That's neat!

[ It's neat in that it's hard to unsee after having it pointed out, but neat is also the extent of Minato's viewing pleasure of the moon, sitting back in the observatory seat and squinting up at the night sky. ]

There's a rabbit in the stars too. The one chased by Orion the Hunter.

[ These stars he can easily point out with his hands— three stars for the hunter's belt, and the rabbit at his feet. ]

...Is this boring? Probably right that it's a weird place for a date.

[ ...Mmm. ]

We only just started. Boring is't really the right word or it.

[ That said, she's going to pick up Porsche to pet her as she looks up some more, trying to follow his gaze to see the rabbit near Orion. The hands help, and to get a better chance of following his movements she leans in towards him to follow the gaze better. ]

[ "Date" was supposed to be the word to contest, and boring might actually be what this is when Minato fails to respond and is left staring at the sky, hand immovable even as Natalia crowds him. It's almost as if he doesn't notice her presence— this was what he was leading into explaining, that it must be boring because he tends to come to places like the observatory to be alone and silent— but this time, ignoring isn't a choice.

It's a memory that takes over his mind's eye, a conversation that only lasts a minute or two, but with people he doesn't know, and a moon that makes him frown, a shiver running down the back of his neck to the base of his spine. ]

[ You know watching him focus like this is...

It's interesting. It's interesting in such a way that when he doesn't respond she sort of watches him play it out. But...

Huh. That's quite the change he's going through, what could he be- But then the minute that she points it out she ends up remembering something else as she catches Porsche out of the corner of her eye. Cradling another dog (Porta?) and hearing him... whisper to her?

Huh. ]

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