[Open] The night has a thousand eyes and the day but one

[eatsyourscience]

Who: Everyone!
Where: The stream and the lake
When: Evening of August 14
Rating: PG-13, just in case
Summary: Come and enjoy one small part of the Bon festival!
The Story:


The evening of the 14th, visitors who feel like heading down to the lake where it turns into a stream that disappears into the forest will get to enjoy a summer celebration in the Japanese style. Outdoor lights illuminate the area, and tables hold all manner of art supplies and blank paper lanterns waiting to be decorated.

This is the Wonderland version of toro nagashi, the paper lantern ceremony meant to guide the souls of the departed by decorating lanterns and setting them loose on the water. Anyone is welcome to participate, whether it's saying a prayer for a departed soul they'd like to remember, sending a note message-in-a-bottle style, or just enjoying the evening air.

Either way, once the sun has set and lanterns have been decorated, the candles inside will be lit, and the lanterns will be released into the water.

Gather at the lakeside afterward to watch them empty into the lake and enjoy the ambiance with some food and drink.

Comments

[eatsyourscience]

[That makes him feel better and he smiles at her.]

You're nicer than you want people to think you are.

[entreats]

[ He hits it right on the head. Enough for her to be quiet for a moment, like she's trying to sort out an appropriate response or denial to that. Something tells her though that denying this would be useless, so after that moment Ange just gives in. ]

I don't like seeming nice. [ It's then that she looks at him again. ] That must be a weird concept to you.

[ After all, Souji is pretty obviously nice - from her point of view, anyway. Here he is organising this festival for all of them, and even helping her with her lantern, despite Ange being well aware she's not the most interesting person to be around. ]

[eatsyourscience]

Not so weird.

[He's got all kinds of odd friends.]

Why don't you?

[entreats]

Nice people always end up at the bottom of the pecking order.

[ And she's spent enough time there to never want to go back to it. ]

[eatsyourscience]

[He wants to point out that that's not necessarily true. In his case, it isn't. But he can guess that her experiences have been pretty different from his.]

It sucks when that happens. But I don't think that necessarily means you shouldn't try.

[entreats]

That's exactly why I'm doing things this way. Like you said, I can be nice to people. [ Most people, even. Ange isn't nearly as tough as she likes to pretend to be.. ]

I just first have to see if people are actually worth that trust and effort.

[ Which means Souji already passed that test, apparently. ]

[eatsyourscience]

[He nods. It's not lost on him that he's worth the trust and effort.]

I guess you haven't found very many people like that?

[entreats]

Literally no one back home.

[ Imaginary friends don't count, right.. ]

Some people here are alright though, I guess. [ Even now she has to downplay it. ]

[eatsyourscience]

I'm glad you found people like that here, then.

[He nods at the lanterns.]

Have you figured out what to write?

[entreats]

.. Not yet. But I'm sure I'll figure it out after a while. [ At least she seems a little more confident about that than before now.. ]

Thanks for helping me.

[eatsyourscience]

Thank you for talking with me.

[He gives her a smile, then takes his lantern off to scribble on it.]