smash_logs | YOU DIDN'T THINK I FORGOT, DID YOU

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YOU DIDN'T THINK I FORGOT, DID YOU

Who: Everyone ever. It's mandatory or you're banned for two minutes.
What: Fireworks are a little late this year...
When: The night of July 14th
Where: Campus, generally. But you can see them out in the city.
Warnings: Colours and explosions and probably dumb kissy stuff somewhere in here.

It was usually the evening of the second of third; a tradition that began five years prior due to some silly boyish dare, that continued for the sake of sentimentality and tradition. Even if the culprit no longer attended Smash Academy, he made sure his legacy lived on each July.

This year it was a little late, because strange robots were patrolling the city and were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that didn't stop the mission from being fulfilled! Just... delayed. It was probably for the best, since loud noises and bright lights wouldn't have been well received by the more feral-minded creatures during the whole bake sale debacle. In a way it was a pretty convenient setback.

Anyway, when the night finally came for the tradition to continue, it started... with a bang. Duh.

There was no small smattering of tester rockets to ease into the display. Just a sudden burst of red and white in the sky, Smash Academy's emblem glowing brighter than the stars for a few seconds before petering out. After that it was just burst after burst of an assortment of colours and shapes, each its own unique size and brightness, the resounding explosions echoing throughout the campus like gunshots.

Good thing nobody at all would be trying to sleep, right?

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July 4th had come and gone. The relative quiet and stillness of the night had possibly been the the final shove to realize this almost dreamlike existence was real. She wasn't in Columbia. Columbia wasn't here. There would have been no way for America's day to pass by silently into the night like any other. The sky should have been bursting with color and sound. The night of shooting stars had always been one to look forward to, and she couldn't say how many hour were spent watching from her windows.

When July 5th came, there was a bit of bittersweetness on her tongue.

The sounds this night alarmed her. She had run to the doorway of the library, expecting to see the worst when she opened the door. Instead it was that sky of color she had missed. "Oh!"

Whatever she had been doing was quickly forgotten for the time being. She needed to find the perfect spot to see what it was like to watch them from so far below the clouds.

Suddenly, a doge. He took a seat right next to her, tail thumping against the ground.

"Oh!" Hello, doge. Elizabeth looked over at her new companion, not quite sure what to do about him. Greet him, perhaps. "Hello!"

"Woof. (hey, how about a pat on the head?)" The dog woofed. All the better if she could understand dog, no loss if she couldn't Surely his cute tail-wagging would earn him a pet or two.

"He says hello to you, too." Flint spoke up as he caught up with his dog.

Elizabeth, sadly, did not understand dog. She could infer from the most waggliest of butts and tails, however, that maybe this was time for head pats. Oh man oh gosh oh man she was gonna pet a dog oh man oh gosh.

She pet.

The Doge.

He was really soft.

She glanced up as Flint approached, smiling even more. "Good evening," she greeted him as well, "is he yours? I'd be glad to have a translator."

"From the looks of it, he approves of what you're doin'." Flint nodded. Boney tilted his head into Elizabeth's hand, signifying a little to the left, please!

"I don't think we've met before. Name's Flint, the dog's Boney." He introduced himself with a tip of his hat.

There were many places in the school that made for good firework viewing. However, if one desired to watch them from a high vantage point, there was one place that rose above the rest - the roof was all fine and well, but the clock tower was the highest place on campus.

Naoya enjoyed fireworks. But he liked to enjoy them away from the crowds, the rowdy children and startled animals. So he had ventured up into the clock tower for some solitude and perhaps a nice, relaxing drink of rice wine. He'd brought up a flask of sake for himself, as well as the appropriate cup.

It was all very nostalgic of the hanabi festivals. Too bad he wasn't celebrating with family this year.

Through out her evening, Elizabeth had reached a certain conclusion. Watching the fireworks from the ground was a pretty fun time. She had spent a good amount of time sprawled on her back on the grass, letting the colors rise up over her like exploding stars. It was lovely. It was enthralling. It wasn't actually what she wanted.

This realization was a strange one, and one that she was not entirely sure what to make of. She decided to ignore whatever implications that might have come with it, instead searching for a way to satisfy her wants. She wanted to be higher.

Short of climbing the mountains, there was one logical conclusion. It shouldn't have been surprising that someone else might have gotten the same idea, but there we were. Elizabeth might not have even known she had company if she had not ventured around the perimeter, looking for the perfect spot. Someone else had already found it. She blinked, a hand slightly to her chest.

"...Hello...!"

Naoya had heard the footsteps of another person climbing up into the Clocktower, but withheld any sort of greeting to announce his own presence. To do so would suggest that he cared about the activities of anyone but himself - and he did not particularly, right now. If the two of them passed each other like ships in the night, he would not feel a bit of loss.

It wasn't until Elizabeth had uttered her own greeting that he bothered to turn and acknowledge her. For a brief moment it might have seemed like a trick of the light in the sky behind him, but no - he was watching her with striking red eyes. With his pale skin, silvery hair and long cloak, he almost had a spectre-like air to him.

"Good evening," he replied coolly.

Another striking addition to the colorful cast of people Elizabeth was slowly acquainting herself with. Even though she was already gradually getting used to the red eyes that watched her whenever she went into the library, it was hard not to be stunned by his. His presence was much different from the librarian's. Elizabeth wasn't sure if that set her more at ease or at attention.

Boldly, the young lady strode up near him with an apparently lack of regard of whether or not he might have wanted some space. The ever present sparkle and shimmer of the lights in the sky had drawn her eyes away from him though, and a smile was making its way on to her face.

"It's a wonderful view up here, isn't it?"

"Yes..." Naoya turned his attention back towards the sky as well, taking a leisurely sip of his sake saucer as he did so.

Fondly, he remarked, "It's a few weeks early for a fireworks festival," but it certainly sounded like he didn't mind. There was a small corner of his heart that rather missed the bustling food stalls and following behind Kazuya and his friends as they bickered over what sight they wanted to see next. The lights and the yukata, being swept away in the moment, and forgetting burden of his curse in the warm, summer twilight.

Elizabeth laughed softly. "Really? I would have said they are a few weeks late," though she similarly did not seem to really mind. At least she didn't now that they were there. Not that she would have completely minded if they had not happened at all. Something she enjoyed was a small price for freedom, as long as she just let the thought go only that far.

As it was, she enjoyed them far more with someone else around, even if she didn't know him.

She gave him another quick glance. "Are the ones you know much like these ones?"

Edited 2013-08-06 22:56 (UTC)

"Yes. But the festival that took up the streets was an essential part of the experience."

Naoya glanced over to study the girl, his eyes in thought and his smile just a little bit playful. One firework too early, and one too late. He was going to venture an educated guess.

"Now, you wouldn't happen to be American, would you?"

"Ooh, a festival..." That was punctuated by a rather dreamy sigh. Busy, bustling streets sounded like so much fun.

Her day dreams (evening dreams?) were interrupted by a feeling of surprise. Elizabeth blinked at the man, caught off guard by his guess. It seemed odd to her that he would have been able to guess that much. Though she supposed it might have been something like Bastille Day. (Perhaps that was why there were fireworks tonight?) Still, it was a bit surprising.

"That's a good guess," she replied with a nod.

Naoya chuckled to himself, and stared back out at the bursts of light in the sky. As though thinking aloud, he commented, "Americans always take their fireworks with such gusto. Such overwhelming patriotism, sometimes... I never did fit in very well."

It'd been a while since he was born into the United States, but rejecting the good old fashioned religious upbringing hadn't been a particularly fun time.

It sounded as though the rest of America could be just as gung-ho as Columbia. While that wasn't automatically bad, she had already seen the kind of things it could lead to. Growing up she couldn't help but feel a bit patriotic herself, but so it was when all you had were fanciful stories. Seeing them come to life was not as uplifting.

"We do like to make things with a bang, don't we..." A bit reflecting. It was hard to tell if time had done much to make it an easier place for other people to live. The history books were all so conflicting. The curiosity in her voice turned somewhat cautious as she continued to speak, unsure of what she could have expected to hear, "When were you there?"

"A long time ago," mused Naoya, before adding, "It feels like it's been several lifetimes, hahaha."

He laughed at his own little joke - one that was both figuratively and literally true. Nothing he expected anyone to take seriously or delve too deeply into, at any rate. There was no reason for them to.

Another sip of sake. "But that's all ancient history," he said, very much intending not to elaborate further on his far flung past. Casual in his grins now, he glanced back at the girl. "Hardly worth recounting."

"Every story is worth reading at least once," Elizabeth countered. "Or listened to, I suppose."

"But many stories will remain untold," Naoya teased back. Perhaps it the sake talking, or he might've normally just shut her up instead of playing along as a man of mystery. An air of faux melodrama in his tone, he lamented, "The world is indeed unjust."

Elizabeth, a rational and well-read person, totally

pouted like a little kid.

"So it seems!" Her revenge, then, was to plop down into a sitting position near him. He could avoid telling her stories all he liked, but it seemed she wasn't letting him spend the evening on his own anymore.

"Hahaha, I can't show all my cards at once. How else will I retain my mystique?" Naoya eyed her with a playful smirk as she sat down. Well, if that's how she was going to be, maybe he wouldn't mind a little company.

"If I'm to have company, I may as well know your name. Call me Naoya. Who might you be?"

Edited 2013-08-07 19:31 (UTC)

"Your sleeves look like they could hold many a mystery regardless, Mr. Naoya." They were really big sleeves. Look at them.

"My name's Elizabeth. Are you... part of the faculty, perhaps?"

"That's right. I'm the computer programming teacher and IT technician."

The glanced at his own sleeves and held it up. So spacious. Innocently, Naoya raised his brow and remarked, "These? They're traditional."

"Computer... Oh! Those kiosks in the library." Yes, okay. She knew what those were. Or she knew of them, at least.

The sleeves still had most of her attention, now that one was on full display. "It seems like a comfortable tradition. Is it... ah, no, that's not Chinese..." she said out loud as she stopped her thoughts. At least not from what she could tell. "Then again I only met one."

Was it super obvious that she was a bit lacking in some knowledge departments yet?

Elizabeth's ignorance earned a light chuckle from Naoya. She must have been very sheltered indeed - and from the sounds of it, hailed from an earlier age.

If she wanted to hear a story, then perhaps this would entice her better.

"Japanese, please. This," he gestured with the haori in question, "is a style of kimono. An overcoat, to be precise. Not a very traditional pattern, mind."

Folding his arms across his chest and into his sleeves, Naoya looked out over towards the bright bursts of light that coloured the sky, letting his imagination return to Tokyo.

"Hanabi is what we call fireworks - 'flower fire.' Every year, food vendors and stalls fill the streets, illuminated by paper lanterns. People would go out, sometimes taking the opportunity to dress in colourful cotton kimonos for the occasion - and when the sun went down, the sky over the river was filled with even more lights.

"The smells and sounds, the sights... they were the very height of summer."

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