InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "WooHoo!"

Ikeda Kiriko | 池田妃凛子 (apathyisboring) wrote in disappear_rpg,
@ 2010-01-10 17:55:00

Entry tags:

open thread, renju

Obon Obon Obon Obon Obon
WHO: Everyone
WHAT: Obon
WHERE: The Shrine
WHEN: Obon
WHY: It's Obon!

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Tourou-nagashi (Day 3)

lotus_beyond
2010-01-12 02:42 am UTC (link)

Normally Renju's penmanship was neat, almost unnaturally so. Her strokes were stick-straight or smooth, careful arcs--boring, but practical, rather like Renju herself.

When she painted the lantern with her chosen verses, it was tentative, shaky, as though she were a child again in more ways than one.

Now the lantern, with its red paper and scrawled calligraphy, floated downriver amidst hundred of others beneath a night sky lit by blossoming fireworks. In her plain store-bought blue-striped yukata, Renju watched it drift, suddenly cold despite the summer heat.

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Re: Tourou-nagashi (Day 3)

apathyisboring
2010-01-12 07:49 pm UTC (link)

"Sonozaki-san?"

Kiriko approached from behind Renju, carrying a red paper lantern of her own. She canted her head, trying to confirm her senpai's identity in the waning light before walking up to stand beside her.

"Nice to see you out here. I guess your family doesn't mind if you stay here for Obon? Oh, but you told me you didn't really do festivals..."

She smiled amiably enough as she knelt by the riverbed, setting her lantern adrift, then standing straight and smoothing wrinkles from the skirt of her dark, floral-patterned yukata.

"Did you send one out, too?"

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Re: Tourou-nagashi (Day 3)

lotus_beyond
2010-01-13 04:19 am UTC (link)

Renju tensed slightly at the sound of Kiriko's voice, her shoulders stiffening beneath the yukata. The riverbank was crowded, to be sure, but she hadn't expected anyone to intrude upon that moment.

"Oh, Ikeda-san." When she turned, it was clear that her smile was forced, but it was a smile nonetheless. "My parents usually made an exception for Obon. My family doesn't... I guess it doesn't really matter," she finished quietly, turning to peer out over the river and search for her lantern. It was hard to tell which was hers; they all blended together so quickly.

"I sent one out just a little while ago. I seem to have lost track of it, though..."

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SAMARECARM

apathyisboring
2010-01-24 09:51 am UTC (link)

She nodded in silence, watching her lantern drift out over the dark waters and join its brothers. Always a somber time, but it was undeniably beautiful to see the river lit. Occupied with watching all the flickering lights, it took her a little longer than usual to piece together the significance of that sentence. She'd said "made." Past tense. Coupled with a less than enthusiastic smile, and her lantern, and...

Her easy smile faltered for only a second. She looked over (and down) to Renju, then back out to the water.

"Who were you sending it for?"

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Re: SAMARECARM

lotus_beyond
2010-01-24 09:54 pm UTC (link)

"Family" was all she said at first before she fell silent, searching again for that little lantern. It was well out into the river, and though part of her wanted to believe she'd spotted it, with its distinctive scrawled, cramped characters, she wasn't going to fool herself into thinking it wasn't lost by now.

"My parents," she finally clarified, the smile gone. "It's their hatsubon."

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Re: SAMARECARM

apathyisboring
2010-01-24 10:14 pm UTC (link)

She lowered her head fractionally and stood silent for a few moments. Well, that explained some of what had happened, didn't it? But what was appropriate to say?

"... I'm sorry."

Offering any more than that would just be tactless. She didn't know them, and she barely knew Renju - what kind of condolence or reassurance could she really offer from her position?

Well, that wasn't completely true. She knew more of Renju than she probably had any right to know, by this point. She wondered if her senpai was feeling as frozen now as all of them had.

"How are you feeling?"

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Re: SAMARECARM

lotus_beyond
2010-01-31 12:53 am UTC (link)

It was a more difficult question for Renju to answer than it really should have been. Not all that long ago, she'd have cut off the subject with a coldly polite answer that amounted to "fine, it's in the past, I'm over it"--an answer that would have closed that line of inquiry for both herself and the person asking. It had worked well enough with the rest of her family, after all, even if now she doubted many of them had been fooled.

Then again, she'd managed to fool herself the same way.

She lapsed into silence again, and it was clear from the distant look in her eyes that she wasn't watching the lantern anymore. "It's... complicated," she finally admitted lamely. "I'm not completely sure..."

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Re: SAMARECARM

apathyisboring
2010-02-02 05:47 pm UTC (link)

Kiriko watched her carefully while she spoke, head canted and eye occasionally trying to trace her gaze back to something tangible (and failing).

It must be difficult for her to be honest, was her first thought. Of course, that was assuming honesty. Paradise had a way of drawing that kind of thing out of you, though... and hers was especially brutal. She must be tired. Too tired to bother, perhaps.

She folded her hands in front of her, making a soft 'hmm' noise and otherwise saying nothing. She was waiting, that much obvious - or at least giving Renju a moment to collect her thoughts before continuing.

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