2024-09-07: Kamogawa's Spirital Fire

• Log: 2024-09-07: Kamogawa's Spiritual Fire
• Cast: Laffinty Fin E Ld Si, Muginami, Madoka Kyouno
• Where: Kamogawa High School Rooftop, Kamogawa, Japan
• OOC - IC Date: Sept 07 UC0099
• Summary: Three girls commiserate over the recent events spanning the world, and start looking towards the next step of the Jersey Club.

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<Pose Tracker> Laffinty Fin E Ld Si has posed.

The world has changed. But Kamogawa endures. Maybe the tides are rougher now, maybe the fishing has changed - again, much as it did after Second Impact, and Operation British, and other terrors.

But Kamogawa endures, a friendly town with friendly folks. Pharos stands on the horizon, still, seemingly permanently parked in the bay.

At Kamogawa Girls' High School, a pale girl with lilac hair has found her way to the roof, and sits on the small bench in the middle, looking out over the bay.

....

"Humans," Lan sighs to herself, head hanging.

<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.

        ...There's been a profound coldness in Muginami's heart, ever since that dreadful meteor shower born from disaster. She knew what this was. Dropping asteroids as weapons wasn't exactly uncommon in Polyhedron.

        Why, to watch the forces of the world come together for the sake of valiantly overcoming this dreadful threat to countless many lives...!

        "Humans, and the Earth, are just so ~lucky~, aren't they, Lan-chan~?"

        Hands behind her back, Muginami's bright, sunny smile are simply -perfect-. Nobody, nobody in the world, could surely suspect her words of being anything other than purehearted. Starry-eyed from yet another 'miracle' protecting everyone.

        Taking a seat next to Lan, sleeves folded over each other to prop up her chin, Muginami kicks her feet innocently, before turning her head to look over the morose princess.

        "Don't be so glum, Lan! Everyone had what it takes to save the day! The world gets to be a bright, sunlit place, even if it's in a bit more pain now. There's something...beautiful, about it, isn't there? Hehe."

        ...it's such a perfect smile. Physically, it has everything Muginami needs to convey earnest relief.

        Tragic, then, that she lives in a world where she can't quite keep that faint flame of coiling animosity completely concealed. Like a perfume that does not match.

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.

Madoka, conspicuously enough, was not there during this meeting. The air was absent of her joyful presence for the past few hours, busy with this and that. Checking up on friend's relatives. Squaring away this and that in relation to GUTS's and their own logistical capacity, the interruptions of war having delayed things to a considerable degree. A colony drop tended to halt everything, even as people tried to push on.

This was not the first time she witnessed the world taking a breath.

And yet, as suddenly as there was nothing, the door pushed open, a streeeetching form in a jersey suit stepping out to the rooftop. "Laaaaan! Mugiiii!" A wave and a jog over, the girl's bangs already wrapped up in a rubber band. A few pieces of paper stuffed awkwardly in a pocket, stepping forth to stare out at the sea.

"Beautiful as always, wasn't it? Sorry about having to leave, there's a lot to be done." The wordless implication: Lots of people needed help. Lots of people were wary. "Everyone's doing okay, for the most part."

Mostly. She's still offering a smile towards the duo. Were they...brooding?

The waves crash in, unceasing.
The wind blows in, unrelenting.
The din of Kamogawa echoes in, unabashedly.

"Need a day off or two? Anything from above or elsewhere?"

The silent question: Did anything happen?

<Pose Tracker> Laffinty Fin E Ld Si has posed.

Is this the world they lost? Is this the world they let grow anew on its own? Was that wise or foolish...Lan fidgets, unhappily. Mugi's words cut strangely. Is this sarcasm? Lan looks up at the fluffy girl that has forced herself into Lan and Madoka's lives. "Save?" she says. "The planet itself might not have been destroyed, but there's unimaginable destruction..."

Lan remains the only person in the world who can think of Muginami with suspicion. "...no," she says, cold. "Homes are burning right now! I can't believe you'd even say that!"

Madoka stumps in, with her big smile and her eager mood, handily defusing what was about to be probably an ugly fight, and Lan winces away with an ashamed look, like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar for the audacity of having and standing up for her own feelings.

"...Moid says Le Garite's support fleet has been waylaid by Kiss rebels. I'm afraid aid will not be coming for some months," she mutters, as if that's remotely what Madoka asked.

<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.

        ...In her own way, Muginami had thought Lan callous to these things. She'd thought relatively little of the whole of Le Garite's royal family. The thing Muginami most immediately wants to decry to Lan is quite simply-

        --(aren't you all the hypocritical ones for lamenting destroyed homes???)--

        ...Maybe she would've said it, in some veiled way, had Madoka not pushed her way onto the rooftop - and that earnest talk of aid and reporting back on everyone's wellbeing cools Muginami's head just a little.

        Not that she'd ever let it show.

        "It's really good to see you, Madoka~ Hmmm, I think I just touched a nerve of Lan's, saying a little bit of, 'well it all could've been worse' about that incident up there. But sometimes you've just gotta look on the bright side to keep moving forward! It sounds like at least here in Kamogawa though, people are safe and sound. I'll be fine, so just let me know if you need any help!"

        A merry little diligent salute, eyes closed with all the cheer in the world.

        Eyes still closed, Muginami airily tells Lan, "What a relief to hear you have friends who are willing to provide aid! I hope they can manage to get here soon~"

        ...yes, wouldn't it be nice for them to get here soon?

        The idea that maybe, just maybe, Hupo and her could think about pulling back the curtain right in front of the Le Garite command fleet, and go for some kind of throat...

        The brighter smile Muginami gives afterwards is a little more 'genuine'.

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.

The mood of strangeness kept persisting. It's not something that Madoka's innately aware off. Just something being. Off. Not of anything in particular, merely the way the beach smelled, the general mood of the place. Even with the question hanging in the air, she brushed her hair back. Gazing out at the ocean. At Pharos.

"...This feels like right after the first one." A small mutter. Too young to really understand the full ramifications, especially with her private life changing bit by bit. A shake of the head. Things were always changing.

"A few months? Mmmh, but we're depending on them...I hope they're okay." Lan's message was...well, it was bad! No optimism to be found there, but she's still maintaining positivity.

Trailing off, listening to Mugi's triade with an arched eyebrow. "It is safe and sound, but this wasn't made without problems, you know. Just because we're still alive doesn't mean there haven't been people hurt by it." Even peace had its share of tragedy. Yet, she maintains the smile. "It does look bad right now. I can't...no, I don't want to imagine what's over the horizon." The memories of Axis Shock stays in her head. It didn't take someone so in-tune with politics to understand the ramifications of a colony drop without name.

"Are you going to be okay, Mugi? We have Moid and Pharos, but what about you?" A question laced with genuine concern: After all, Mugi (as far as her cover story went) moved to escape war.

A few pulled papers extracted. They're logistical papers. Shipments. All towards the school. Disrupted as well, a few marks of pen with manual changes. "Uncle Hiroshi's place is trying to change their menu up a bit, too. Says he needs a few taste testers. And this...Mmh..." Trailing off. A bit too much to take in at once.

"One step at a time." A double smack of the cheeks. "Say, have you two ever been to a culture festival?"

<Pose Tracker> Laffinty Fin E Ld Si has posed.

Muginami deftly makes Lan look worse (self-described) and Lan breaks her eye contact to sulk. "Yes," Lan says to Madoka's assessment. It's bad, yes. They still haven't had any luck finding or countering Kiss' forces... "For now...we'll have to work harder."

At what? At what indeed. It's not like Lan feels like she's doing anything, and the truth of the Vox...she still, still hasn't spoken to Madoka about it, even now that Array has laid it all bare.

She finds her eyes drawn down to the ground, the gravity of it all wearing down at her posture.

But still, Madoka rallies her, as she so always seems to know how to do. Taste testing the new menu...? Hiroshi's food's always good... ...and they're all in the same house at this point anyway... But before she finishes mulling over that, a different idea. "'Culture festival?'" she asks, answering all. She tips her head to the side like a confused dog.

<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.

        "Don't worry, don't worry!" Muginami waggles her hand up and down with all the positive energy cheer in the world at Madoka's worries. "I've always been good at taking care of myself! I may not look it, but if one of those shooting stars hit Hiroshi's, I'd get hard at work with a hammer and nails at the task!~"

        Miming a little flex and a hand on her bicep, Muginami gives all the reassurance to Madoka she can, before a finger innocently touches on her lower lip, in oh so cutesy head-tipping pondering.

        ...wondering, for a moment, just how much she really cares about -this- planet...

        There's certainly a suggestion for finding out!

        "Aaaah, a culture festival! Those are always fun!" -Muginami's never been to one in her lfe, but from context clues Muginami can derive that it is a) a festival with b) a cultural bent, and even a garbage bin like U-Go had public festivities. (always a great time to swipe food!) "Tell me all about how they work here in Kamogawa! Me and Lan-chan-" Muginami puts her arm around the princess and tugs her close as a display of doushi-ship! "-will work our hardest to have fun and kick back! Hehehe~"

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.

Work harder. Madoka hears those words well. For those who can't step into the frontlines, for those who wonder and wait, for those at home...Well, that's what the Jersey Club's for. Partially.

"I don't think a hammer and nails would be the best starting point..." Mugi's assertion does bring her own mood that bit up, unable to surpress a giggle. "But thanks. Hiroshi's going to be happy about that." A genuine smile right back, unfettered by worries of the cosmos.

"Yes, culture festival. You've been to one, Mugi? That's good, you can help plan a few things! See, uh, how to best sum it up..." Trailing off, muttering to herself. How to best distill the task before them to a managable extent.

"...I don't know if you've heard of Deculture or not, considering GUTS and the past two years, but I've found myself...in charge of doing it here?" Is that how it was? Taking another look at the papers. Scanning them over.


-- DECULTURE FESTIVAL UC0099 --


"...We're going to be busy for a bit."

<Pose Tracker> Laffinty Fin E Ld Si has posed.

Lan is momentarily too ashamed of herself for being an alive person who can't solve all the problems of the universe to detect Muginami's sliding malice.

Which does mean when Muginami slides around her she starts and look up, startled out of her reverie, but doesn't fight back. "Huh!? Uhm!?" she says, blushing slightly in fluster. "Y-yes! Of course!" SHE'LL NEVER BACK DOWN IN FRONT OF THE UNKNOWN HARLOT

Oh it's work though. Lan blinks and squint at the papers. "Oh, OK...so, it's a public festivity...yes, I understand." Hmm....

She turns to look at Muginami. "I don't think we have a choir in town, though, do we?" she asks, earnestly.

Le Garite parties are maybe not quite the right vibe for this.

<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.

        "A choir? Hmmmmm. Is that normal for culture festivals? I'm more used to all the food and parade stuff!" Muginami beams, prodding at Lan's cheek a -little- painfully. Surely that's just being overzealously buddy-buddy. Surely.

        "...But if you're suggesting it, I really wanna know - how good of a singer are you, Lan?~ I'm not any good at it at all myself, so you might wind up in charge of the music!"

        Madoka looking over those papers makes Muginami a little helplessly curious (what if they're, like, Secret Le Garite Alliance Documents!??!), and so she oh so smoothly asks, "Madokaaaaa, what're you doing all the way out there anyway. Come a little closer! Let's all watch the sunset together, okay~?"

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.

She doesn't think of it as work. Not at all. Both of them are in the club, and she's the one spearheading the entire thing. This isn't work! Even if she did volunteer for the entire thing, and managed to track down people related to GUTS and the Deculture Festival, and called internationally, and got the head of the entire GUTS operation to come down here in the first place, and, and...

...It wasn't work!

There's a nod at Lan's own question, tilting her head for a moment in thought. "I don't think so...Not one off-hand, but if we really need one, there's probably a few places that can practice for whatever sort we need." Wait, no, Madoka, don't take her question seriously-

"A parade...? What sort of cultural festivals did you have?" The first direct question lobbed at Muginami's cover story! An absentminded one, though. But her mind isn't really trying to prod holes at the backstories of another. Still...

"I think I can work something for music..."

...There's no thunderclap. The sky is as blue as the ocean.

As Madoka accepts the welcoming invitation, the papers themselves show...Nothing of real note! It's all shipping logistics and plans for the festival in her usual shorthand and scribbles, overlayed over maps of Kamogawa, the school itself, and a few scribbles of 'how do people come in?' along various transportation routes.

There's no mention of if people would come. Such was her confidence.

<Pose Tracker> Laffinty Fin E Ld Si has posed.

ow. :( Lan pouts. "I-is that so? I...haven't seen any parades..." You'd think; but Dizelmine has been more focused on solving the Thousand Year Problem, and Lan has mostly been supporting that. Le Garite's idea of grand merriment mostly doesn't involve those two.

Lan has never questioned this.

Oh, but Madoka also questions it and Lan tips her head. "Oh? I guess--"

She clams up at Muginami's teasing question. "I don't sing very much!!" she protests. "But..." All those days with Ranka and Sheryl on Gallia IV... "...I agree that good music would be nice..." she says, slowly.

<Pose Tracker> Muginami has posed.

        "Awww, cmon, Lan, don't talk yourself down like that." Muginami insists, her smile getting so cheeky and teasy at the princess. "If you got really into it, I'm sure your voice would be fantastic! We should give it a try!"

        --and of course, if Lan's voice -isn't- very great, then that's embarrassing her on stage, which is cute in its own right!

        A few breathy giggles behind one hand.

        Muginami's plan to Secretly Overlook Secret Documents reveals that they weren't secret at all!! And there's a momentary pout - :T - as she realizes Madoka's doing lots of boring paperworkey stuff. "You really take this formally and seriously...I always figured festivals were things people just...did for their own sake, when they felt like it, but this is...organized, isn't it? Hehe, now I'm imagining you with glasses and a suit in one of those big office buildings~"

<Pose Tracker> Madoka Kyouno has posed.

There's one approval for music from Lan. A nod and a beaming, absolutely shining smile as she understands the assignment well. The mental note filed away in her head as she headed over, plopping herself down to watch the sunset slowly sink down the horizon.

"Eh? Well, Lan, if you want to sing, I won't stop you." SUre, Muginami's prompting, but she has to admit: She's a bit curious about how Lan's voice is...

"I'll take you along on the next few meetings, Mugi! There's a few people I know bringing things in from abroad, and this entire colony drop thing means its a bit delayed...But it'll happen."

That's the important thing: Push, and it'll happen.

Thoughts of Junius Seven, the Colony Drop in general, everything...Feels a bit small in the wake of the sun casting its rays over the environment. Even as the skies twinkle above with the movement of ships, of the distant Sides soaring through space, of everything happening in the span of days...

...This was a moment to etch into memory.

"...Summer's ending..."