semi-open || another year older

[complementing]

WHO: Minato, Minako, and Minato's friends!
WHERE: Koyama Shrine, aka that shrine I made up before.
WHEN: March 5th
WHAT: A trip the the local shrine for Hinamatsuri festivities, to celebrate the Arisato twins' (but mostly Minato's) birthday.
WARNINGS: None foreseen!

DEDICATED TO THE LADIES

[Hinamatsuri is Girl's Day, so there's noticeably a lot of young elementary school girls dressed in tiny and cute kimonos hanging around with their parents. It's not too crowded or noisy, though, given that it's a smaller holiday compared to Boy's Day, so there's plenty of room to walk around without getting jostled.

Some attractions of note:

• the usual food stands, with yakisoba and takoyaki on sale, as well as grilled meat and seafood, karaage, chocolate bananas, crepes, and melon bread.
• a hot amazake (non-alcoholic sake) stand that's selling large bottles of it and handing out free samples. Or you can try the alcoholic version, just show your ID first.
• a shaved ice stand that's hosting a challenge: eat one giant shaved ice in three minutes, and you'll earn a free t-shirt and $10 voucher for its main dessert storefront. Because of how cold it is, only a handful of people have successfully completed the challenge today.
• the ever enticing fortune stand, where you can stick a dollar into the donation box to get a random fortune in a box.
• the main offertory box at the main shrine. Throw in a coin and pray for one of the women in your life.
• various doll sets with various numbers of tiers on display along the walkways. All of them say very clearly: DO NOT TOUCH. You're allowed to take pictures, though, and read some of the accompanying descriptions of which doll represents what.

The main draw of the event is a large station where visitors can make dolls out of provided paper or straw. Traditionally, these dolls would be placed on a boat and floated down a river in a nagashibina ceremony, symbolizing the carrying away of sins and impurities. But since there aren't any nearby rivers that don't require a hike into the woods, the shrine is instead symbolically floating them down one of the long channels of (perfectly clean!) well water in the back garden. Visitors can follow their boat along a designated walkway until it reaches its destination if they'd like.]

Comments

[compendiem]

(Note: MINATO'S COMING IN STYLE. He's wearing his Shirt of Chivalry, his rad shoes, with a cute Frost Cap jammed over his head, and his smiley face respirator mask to complete the look. Minako only let him out of the house due to birthday privileges.)

i. food
[ Hella... This is exactly how he had spent his festivals as a kid: collect an armful of food containers with a stick of something held in between each finger, ignore everything else that's going on besides what he's eating, eyes to the ground and keep Dad's back right in front of him to bulldoze through the crowd. If nobody wants to be his substitute parental figure today, that's okay too; he'll find somebody in the crowd to trail after. It's almost as if he's trying to get himself lost, but haha that wouldn't be on purpose, right. ]

ii. shaved ice
[ He has his wallet out, staring at the size of the shaved ice the challenger before him is tackling, a fairly serious expression on his face that is less determination and more mental gymnastics going on in his head rn— he can cheat his way through this, but how close to three minutes should he make it so that he doesn't look too suspicious...

Also where is Dave. He would hate this and Minato looks around specifically for him. ]

iii. dolls/nagashibina
[ Oh no. Minato had vetoed the museum idea on the account that everything would be too tempting to touch, but now there's an actual sign in ALL CAPS and this is even worse.

He doesn't linger in front of the display, but he does make his own doll, binding together little bundles of straw with string. Maybe you're close enough to catch him whispering under his breath ] ...Norse funeral... [ which is definitely not what this tradition is supposed to be but also he looks vaguely amused so don't ruin this for him. ]

Closed to Mimori.
[ Sometime mid- to late-day, Minato seeks Mimori out and more or less drapes himself over the back of her chair, his arms over either of her shoulders so that he can dump some little containers of food onto her lap. ]

I need quiet... Let's go hide somewhere.

[ He made it halfway through the day and for that, he's proud of himself. But there's too many people, and worse- there's people that know him and are specifically paying attention to him, so he's got to withdraw for a break, however short it is. ]

wc.
(I will tag out to other top-levels! Minato is mostly expecting people to do their own thing so he can wander from person to person as he pleases instead of following him around.)

i

[tarotcards]

[ souji is pretty aware of his surroundings so it doesn't really take him long to realize that minato is trailing behind him but he doesn't really say anything. in fact, he kind of just keeps on walking around to see how long minato will follow him around ]

[ actually, he'll even see if minato will pick up the speed as well. would he also walk a little more briskly if souji is speed walking? will he also slow down if souji does the same? this is a social experiment that souji needs the answers to ]

[ this might keep up for ten minutes or so ]

[compendiem]

[ Oh my god why is he walking faster--

It takes Minato a bit to realize it at first, frowning around whatever he's stuffing into his mouth every time Souji gets far away enough to let the sunlight past his head, but Minato has no intention of wasting the time and energy to reevaluate his speed and match Souji's. The two second delay in turnaround time becomes a zero second delay as he goes ahead and presses the top of his head against Souji's back; the direct contact is like holding hands with his mom when he was little, except both of his right now are both too busy being used to hold food. ]

[tarotcards]

[ a head bump is not what souji expected when he started changing his speeds but he kind of wants to laugh when he feels minato's head resting on his back. he stops walking and he cranes his head to try and look back at minato without actually turning ]

Yes?

[compendiem]

[ Minato gestures vaguely with his takoyaki hand instead of replying because his mouth is full, careful not to jab Souji in the eye, but maybe he'll poke him in the cheek so he'll turn around and resume walking. ]

[tarotcards]

[ the poke doesn't get souji to keep walking but instead, he just opens his mouth and... ]

[ ... keeps it open. ]

[ feed him and maybe he'll move ]

[compendiem]

[ Oh no, Minato has to make a decision here. Which does he like more, safety, or his food?

...

He stabs another takoyaki from his container and holds it out-- misses Souji's mouth completely and instead rests his arm over his shoulder with the takoyaki held in front of him like a stick-and-carrot for a horse.

Let's keep going. ]

iii.

[lalliho]

[He's been trying not to hover too much, but it's safe to say that Lalli's done his best to keep his eye on Minato to monitor him even when they've gone separate ways to do their own thing. He's more lenient about it, knowing how difficult it was for his friend to even give in to this little occasion, and...they sure did spend an entire month together. Yeesh. Eventually, though, he makes his way back around, offering a barely visible smile in a greeting Minato may not even see, then leaning over to see what it is that he's working on. Also, note: he's made no mention of the mask in an effort to avoid all that awkward receiving of gift shit that they agreed sucked. Kind of...destroying its purpose with the rest of that ensemble, though...]

Do you have a boat?

[To send these little Nordic strawdolls down the river while they burn...]

[tarotcards]

[ how quick are minato's reflexes because nuh-uh, souji ain't that type of cheap horse. he wants his payment first so he will move quickly to try and get the taokyaki in his mouth ]

[compendiem]

[ His reflexes suck and if Souji jerks away, Minato's going to drop the stick

HOW FAST ARE SOUJI'S REFLEXES?? ]

[tarotcards]

[ souji's reflexes are quick enough to try and catch the takoyaki?! but maybe too fast because he kind of tries to catch it without thinking and realizing that having a hot, sticky ball in your palm will really suck?! of all the times he didn't have mada equipped... ]

[ but yes, souji only manages to catch the single ball of takoyaki in the palm of his hand... and he can only say one thing while he just holds it out ]

It's... hot...

[compendiem]

[ Gross, Minato doesn't want it back, so he places his hand under Souji's and elevator lifts it up towards Souji's mouth. Go ahead and eat it, it's Minato's gift to him. He can switch to Mada now or something and save himself from a blistered mouth. ]

[tarotcards]

[ why is minato doing this to him...... souji doesn't like to waste food so he just eats it even if it's on his hand and it's super hot and he's not switching to mada because he's not a pansy, he'll just take it. but when he finishes, he just looks at minato with the saddest eyes ]

[ silently asking why and pleading for another one that wasn't on his hand :( ]

[compendiem]

[ :|

Minato looks down at Souji's hand, then back up at his sad eyes... Alright, alright. He isn't a monster. He gets it.

He holds out his hand and drops a napkin onto Souji's palm so he can wipe off the sticky sauce.

(He doesn't get it) ]

[complementing]

[Minako will be in a pretty spring kimono today!]

I. SWEETS FOR THE SWEETHEART

[No cake today, because her birthday party is on the 10th and there will be cake then, but since today is the actual day of her birth, she's going eat as many desserts as she wants. Just in the first hour and a half she'll have consumed two overstuffed crepes, one squished melon bread, and two sticks of chocolate bananas as she walks. You might hear the sloshing of a couple of bottles of amazake in her purse, as well.

That $10 gift card is looking pretty nice, too! She's notably the only woman in a nice kimono trying the challenge, and for good reason: those long kimono sleeves are a pain. She keeps having to pause in between huge mouthfuls of ice to push back her sleeves.]

II. DOLLED UP

[She takes the longest at the doll making station, her deft fingers taking care to make a very cute Minako paper craft. And of course, being that kind of girl, she has to take a few minutes to create a good background for paper Minako before taking a picture for Twitter and Instagram and all those social media sites.

And then she makes more paper dolls! A Minato, a Ryoji and Mrs. Mochizuki, two that might be her parents, a Sora and Shiori and Mrs. Pu'uwai, a Koromaru, a Lucian...continuously adding them next to her paper Minako and taking pictures.]

III. WILDCARD

[Come at me with anything else!]

ii;

[complementing]

[She wanders over after picking up a stick of grilled squid, and seeing what he's in line for, she reaches over with a tiny, knowing grin to adjust the Frost Cap on his head.]

Did you know, the fastest time today was apparently two minutes, seventeen seconds.

[tarotcards]

[ okay, the napkin is appreciated because souji didn't bring his bag with him so he doesn't have his travel tissues but that's not what he wanted. ]

[ so, with his hand still out and the tissue there (he won't wipe his hand until he gets food), he just opens his mouth silently. ]

[ feed himmmmmmmm ]

[compendiem]

[ A child. That's fine; this is exactly how Minato acted as a kid (still acts? still acts...) so he know how to handle this. His container of takoyaki is quickly running out and he doesn't have any sticks left, so he goes ahead and picks a piece up with his fingers

Pops it in his mouth.

Reaches over and wipes his fingers on the napkin on Souji's hand, and then also wipes his palm for him. There, there. Now we're BOTH clean. ]

[tarotcards]

[ ........................................................ ]

[ okay minato brought this upon himself. souji will turn completely to face minato and he'll just reach over and try to grab a takoyaki straight from minato's little container ]

[compendiem]

[ It's his birthday, Souji!! He would pull the "be nice to the birthday boy" card, but that would involve opening his mouth and he can't, because it's full of delicious takoyaki. Mmmm, definitely got to keep these safe at all costs.

The one Retrospec memory Minato's always held onto in hopes that it'll become become his reality here, is the one of him being on the track team. This would be a great time for his sprinting abilities to kick in, because he turns heel and runs.

Really slowly. Weighed down by all the food he's carrying but also his sheer lack of physical ability, good bye. ]

i

[tarotcards]

[ minako isn't the only one who has her eyes on that $10 gift card so before the competition starts, souji takes a seat next to her ]

Don't think I'll take it easy on you, senpai.

[ birthday smirthday, gotta win fair and square ]

[tarotcards]

[ birthdays don't excuse you from being a jerk!!!!! but would souji know that it's minato's birthday. maybe. he knows that minato is minako's twin so he probably knows. i'll just say that souji will buy minato more groceries later because apparently minato likes that and some other things ]

[ and oh no, minato isn't getting off that easily. souji is quickly in pursuit! and by quickly in pursuit, i mean that he probably just speed walks until he's right behind minato, puts his hands on either side of his chest, and tries to pick him up ]

[ souji has physically picked up people before so they wouldn't escape or to force them to go somewhere so if minato isn't too heavy, he will do exactly that. at least, he will try to pick up minato for just a few seconds before dropping him ]

[compendiem]

[ I'm laughing at the idea that Souji did not, in fact, realize there was a birthday going on and he just came here to celebrate Girl's Day for kicks.

But Minato will appreciate groceries and it really is that easy to buy his love back, no matter how much was lost when he's suddenly picked up from behind and he freezes up immediately, shoulders locking and breath catching in his throat.

baby baby baby plays in the distance as I submit this for a regain of Minato getting caught by the Reaper-- but also this might be Souji's best chance to steal a takoyaki, while Minato's busy screaming inside. ]

[tarotcards]

[ that sounds just about right for souji tbh. he kind of just goes wherever he pleases. i'll leave a comment in minato's inbox real quickly to have him drop off more groceries because sadly, this is the most that he knows about minato so he can't get ~specialized~ gifts asides from food ]

[ souji would steal a takoyaki if he had his hands free!! and he's not a monster enough to just shove his face into minato's takoyaki container and eat everything. he's not minato so he just says one thing instead while holding him from behind ]

Surrender.

[compendiem]

Not yet.

[ He doesn't have a lighter, either, so he's got to think a little harder how he can make this happen, not under the watchful eyes of the festival workers. Or Minako. ]

Are you making one? [ A doll to join Minato's, or a boat for theirs to share, either one. He remembers Lalli learning to fold an origami rabbit for him, so maybe origami people is possible? He's not sure, but he tilts his head towards the crafts anyways. It'd probably be more interesting for Lalli to keep his hands busy and work on something too, instead of just sitting and talking to him. ]