[Event ORP] Aimes' Spring Fish Festival.

[Rown]

From what Rindou could tell by what he could smell and the feel of the boards beneath his feet, there were a lot of people and the ground was really hard. He was tempted to float up and over, to get away from the crowds, but he was pretty sure that if Jarett found out he'd been making a spectacle (whatever that meant) of himself there would be mild trouble to pay. Their relationship was on the mend and they were growing so much closer to one another once more, and Rindou didn't want to mess that up.

He thought for a moment or two he heard a familiar voice (but it was probably just the cry of a REAL seagull) and he thought even more that he felt a familiar presence. The open water smell always reminded him of Aren for some reason and maybe that older Dust was here, but Rindou always thought Aren didn't like groups of people. Rindou also thought that maybe Aren wasn't real, since Jarett had said he never saw him whenever he came to get the boy from the beach. Very, very odd, but that was that.

Anyway, moving along! Rindou liked the smell of whatever was coming from one of the booths, and he started stamping his way into the crowd without any care in the world. He was pretty sure he knocked into a feel people, he could feel their weight, and unless they stopped him to ask him to apologize he was going to continue on his way.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

The stranger’s offhand reply didn’t really satisfy Oxiin. It was like when he had asked Inge why the sky was blue. The fisherman had replied, 'because it just is – it always has been blue.' It didn’t explain why, just pointed out the obvious. Therefore, he crossed his one good arm across his chest and gave the man a closer examination, scrutinising what little features he could spy beneath the clothing. For a good few seconds his coppery eyes narrowed and his head craned forwards, angling his vision upwards to try and gain a better line of sight.

“My guardian is here.” He responded snappishly, bobbing his head in the direction of the stall where Inge lounge in all his fake mermaid glory. “But I like not being supervised.. I don’t need my hand held.” He pouted, a slight bitterness in his voice. He wasn’t going to let the guy bring down his good mood but he couldn’t help but get tetchy when a) his question wasn’t answered right and b) he was being told that Inge should be mummying him. “I’m not a little kid.”

Having said that he took a step forward and looked defiantly up close to the man’s face. Though he only came up to his chest he was still able to see enough of the details of the other person under the shadow of his cowl to require him to step back again in shock. Pale blue skin? Flighty white hair? Those were not the features of a human. Perplexed Oxiin frowned, fingers picking at a fleck of rust on his arm – his hand still half filled with bread. “You’re...” He paused, wondering if it was possible...

“You’re like me?” Oxiin had long since learned that he was not alone in being a peculiar child. Within the city there seemed to be a collection of other strange children, like Rindou or Allegro. But never before had he met an adult who did not fit in with the rest of humanity. Unsure what to make of this new discovery he opted to try and regain his composure by meeting the man in the eyes and waiting for an answer - a proper one this time.

 

[Urimian]

" Damn! " said Qaletaqa. He was running for about half an hour. He had never missed this event before, and he always arrived in time. " I knew i shouldn't have had a big breakfeast today! " he thought to himself, still rushing, trying to keep his breakfeast down.

When he finnaly arrived, he could see a bunch of kids around. " Strange kids " he murmured to himself. " Every year, there seems to be more kids like that. " he kept murmuring to himself. " What happened to these people? ".

He was gonna go to the stand where he always put up a game. The game consists of kids drawing animals and naming them. If he thinks there original enough, they will win a prize. He always reserved a place. So he put the tent up, and waited for some kids to come.  

[Syusaki]

Arietta chuckled at the lively atmosphere the entire city was drowning in, somehow pushing her way through the bustling streets of Aimes. Admittedly, the large crowd was disconcerting and something that the doctor was unused to, but nothing to prevent her from enjoying the festival. Although she loved being a doctor and using her skills to help others, taking a respite from her job was nice too.

Strolling through with her crossed arms locked in their usual position, she observed the stalls that lined the roads. She walked slowly, much slower than the rest of the people that were scattered around the area. Arietta did not usually frequent Aimes, so she found it to be especially important to take in all the details of the city. Her eyes traveled from one vendor to the next, intently staring at the wares and foods.

The sweet scent of bread suddenly caught her attention and she immediately turned her head, attempting to mask her eagerness as she stopped by a stall. A few seconds later a please Arietta walked away. Her arms were still protectively across her chest, but now she was nibbling on a fish-shaped pastry.

Always looking forward, she was startled when a small weight knocked into her from behind, jolting her. She looked around to spot whoever it was, spotting a dark-skinned child. What an unusual skin color . . . Arietta mused. “You should be more careful about where you walk, young one. You might get someone angry,” she warned.  

[bpyan]

The little dust spoke. And based on his tone he seemed to be slightly annoyed at the other dust. Aren sensed this quite a bit and took a step back while nodding his head in apology. This dust had a tough attitude, something Aren automatically respected.

The older dust looked over to where the child was motioning to and he saw an unusual scene with a human dressed in odd clothing, as if mimicking a mermaid. Humans had odd customs. With that moment of distraction the child managed to sneak a peek under his hood. Aren, realizing this, moved away in sudden desperation to conceal his unnatural appearance. But it was too late, the child was already speechless as his eyes avoided his own. It was so hard to explain things in this distracting setting. Aren opened his mouth but the younger one beat him to it. It was a confused and curious voice that reached his ears, asking a very important question.

The mature dust met the others eyes, his gray ones gentle as he looked back. He brought a hand up to his hood, fixing it a little and trapping the wild feathers into the scarf as he answered the child.

"My name is Aren. And I am like you, we are of a new race called the dusts. We are all gifted with certain abilities," he paused, a frown appearing in his face. "I know it's hard to understand all this but in due time, you will. I will make sure that I will guide you through this path."

He took a step closer to the boy, kneeling a little so that he was to the level of the boy. He looked earnestly at the boy, a smile appearing on his pale face. "Now, may I ask your name?"  

[Olivia Solace]

In the end it was far too late for Hayden to call the two rambunctious boys back to him, and he was left to simply follow along as best he could with the growing number of things he was being asked to carry. At least he knew by the end of the day that all, including himself, would be sufficiently tuckered out and would have no qualms about quickly drifting off into the land of sleep.

"Cante! Benjamin! Dad's calling!" Allegro hollered, unable to get his twin brothers to stop in their tracks for even a mere moment. He continued to follow them, not happy about how quickly the situation was getting out of control. He wasn't the worrying type, but it didn't mean he didn't have his concerns. He only wished his brother's shared them.

Cante stopped, looking back and forth between Allegro and Benjamin. He was deciding what to do, but quickly his decision was made for him as he heard his brother's elated sounding yells.

"Ice cream! Look there's ice cream!" Benjamin shrieked, making his way quickly to where the delicious frozen treat vendor was currently stationed. He was everything but polite, running over and wiggling his way past Anouk and Ciellas to see what flavors the vendor did have.

Cante quickly followed, though far more polite about the situation, wiggling to his brother from Ciellas's side with a squeaked 'excuse me!'.

Both Allegro and Hayden sighed, the sunshine Dust waiting patiently for his new father to catch up with him before finally proceeding. The two approached the ice cream vendor together, a look of apology on each others faces.

Hayden quickly approached Ciellas with apologies, the little trinkets and goodies in which he bought for the boys clanking slightly as her moved, "I'm so sorry about that miss. I do hope my boys didn't cause you and your daughter far too much trouble."

Allegro simply looked at Anouk, the girl standing near Ciellas. He felt that tingle again he got whenever he was near someone like him. He gave the girl a sideway look, and noticed how the ice cream cone in her hand was melting, and quite a bit quicker than it normally should. He wondered if it was because of him, and his tendency to exude heat every now and again.

Digging around in his pocket for a moment, he pulled out a wet-nap, and held it out to Anouk, giving her a small smile, "This should help make your hands less sticky when you're done with it."
 

[X Purple--Platypus X]

"I’m Oxiin..”

With growing interest Oxiin regarded Aren closely as he fixed his hood and tucked away the stay feathers that seemed to be intermingled with his hair. What had been revealed to him seemed ridiculous and yet at the same time made perfect sense with what he had already began to understand. A new race; he knew he was different to most humans. Gifted with certain abilities; he could make things rust, Rindou could float – it hadn’t taken much brainpower to work out those weren’t exactly common human talents. Really, when Oxiin thought about it, the only new thing he had learnt from Aren was the official name for people like him. Dusts.

A tingle of excitement ran down his body, particularly strongly along his rusty arm. Aren had illuminated the truth about what he was and now it was confirmed that he was definitely a different type of being to the rest of the people that flocked around him. Even now the humans passing by were unaware that he and Aren were in their midst, individuals of a new race! Oxiin grinned up at the adult dust’s face. “That’s... amazing.” He gushed, gritting his teeth together into a grin with his eyes wide. He had questions to ask, but he wasn’t stupid and had already started to pick up from the mysterious actions of Aren (which he had originally been suspicious of) that it was not a subject easily discussed in busy human areas. Therefore, he knew that he would have to hold his questions till some other time.

Keeping this in mind he rolled the remaining piece of his food into his fingers and held it up to Aren. “I’ve got to give this to the fish...” He stated, stepping in the direction of the docks where the fish were milling around in the water. “I’ll speak to you again Aren?” Perhaps he meant that he would find him later on in the festival, perhaps he meant some other less busy day. Oxiin wasn’t sure. But he knew that he wanted to meet the blue skinned man again at some point to learn more. Now wasn’t the time though and rather than hanging onto the temptation of this new information that he couldn’t access he wanted to enjoy the day.

 

[Kuuro Kitten]

Ruriska

“Ah, here he is.” Alexander grinned, though it was rather nervous and somewhat strained grin, and then straightened up to greet Cadaver. “Hello Cada.” He hung beside the cart and watched Cadaver’s bemused expression. Ah, they probably should have explained beforehand.

Anise shifted slightly in the cart, leaning forward to stare back at Cada. She gave him a weak little smile. Now she had Alex and Cada here; she felt slightly better... well, no not really. When the older Dust asked why she was in the cart; her lips tightened and she glanced away. “I can’t.”

Alexander sighed. “Anise... she can’t go out into large areas or be around large crowds. Usually she can’t even go outside. But she refused to stay home today. So the cart is to keep her... together...” Alexander gave up the explanation with a sigh of futility and leant over to look inside the cart. “Would you like something to eat?”

“...Not yet... thankyou.”

Cada didn't say much after the brief explanation. He supposed it was for the best not to push the young dust. She was making an effort in her own way so he would do his best as well. At times like these he wished he hadn't left Mr. Happy behind but he had realized he was slowly growing out of his childish ways. Poking his head near the cart he gave the spiderweb dust a gentle smile. "If you'll be in there then I'll have to play all the games to win you prizes..." He mused. "If you're okay with this where shall we go first." Though he didn't want to leave Anise out of the fun he did keep an eye on Alex for approval of various activities. Better they play this game safely then rush into things and risk upsetting the girl. "You know there might be a lot like me and Anise out here, hope you're up to it Alex."
 

[alpha lyrae]

The chattering of the children had given away their presence, and Ciellas held the ice cream up just in time as two small boys pushed by on their way to the cart. She laughed and backed away to allow them a little more room to gawk, reminded of her brothers back home and how excited she had been when the festival season came. A quick glance at Anouk from the corner of her eyes assured her that she was having a good time in contentedly licking the treat she was given; a quick glance that was deceiving though, as the dustling watched the two boys critically (how rude, pushing to the front like that!). But another duo approached and distracted the two girls from their ice creams, and by the looks on their faces they were related to the two smaller ones.

"Now, now, nothin' tae worry about." Ciellas laughed loudly and took a small lick of her rapidly-melting cone. "Boys will be boys. I grew up with brothers just like 'em. Is this their first festival?"

Anouk examined them warily, still feeling very muggy and uncomfortable. But while Ciellas was engaged with the older stranger, she turned her attention to the one closer at hand. A quiet lick on her ice cream cone provided a reason not to speak as he offered her a napkin, and her eyes darted to his face, before examining the rest of him with a wary but critical eye. He seemed polite enough, nicely dressed (oh, she was always keen on how a person presented themselves, even though she tried not to judge them on it - the key word being "tried"), all good qualities. There was also something - she couldn't quite put her finger on it - but something was familiar about him. Her eyes fell to the offered napkin as the strange feeling fluttered inside. What does it mean when you meet someone who already feels familiar.. ?

".. Thank you. What is your name?" The words were quiet and she extended her free hand to gently grasp the napkin. "My name is Anouk." But when her fingers gently touched the back of his hand, she nearly pulled her hand back with a soft intake of breath.

Had she just imagined it, or had his skin felt.. ? No, no, what a silly notion. The girl shoved the thought aside. Of course he wasn't really that hot, it was just her nerves and the heat of the day. The persistent tingling in her hand protested otherwise, but she waved it off. However, the heat of this area was going to be a problem. A couple of quick licks to the melting ice cream finished it off (which did nothing for her parched throat, strangely) and she tossed the paper cup into the garbage can and started cleaning her hands with the moist napkin. The sweat continued to collect on her skin, and she gave her guardian an anxious glance. The woman was still preoccupied, of course, but perhaps..

She returned her gaze to the boy. It was worth a chance. And even though he was a stranger in the fact that they had only just met, at least if she were to go somewhere, it would be with one who felt familiar. Names had been shared, so that was good enough, wasn't it?

"By chance, do you know of a place that might be cooler than here? I am.. simply melting in this heat." Anouk's eyes widened a little as she spoke, as though to relay the sense of urgency that her polite tone couldn't imply. This was something that couldn't wait on her socializing mother, she had to find somewhere not in the midst of the crowd.  

[bpyan]

"Oxiin.." Aren smiled at the innocent wonder of the child as he grinned. There was so much he would have to deal with in the future when he grows up to become the protector of his own present guardian. But today that wasn't important, what was important was to savor this day of celebration. Aren watched Oxiin with quiet curiosity searching for signs of distraught or confusion. Yet the young dust did not look troubled at all, he actually looked quite excited.

The crowd of people did not stop pouring in and even more humans started to crowd the once empty spot Aren was settled in. He stood up from his position, blocking the view of his face from the humans but still faced the young dust in front of him.

Aren looked at what the child was holding in his hand, apparently it was remnants of a pastry. The older dust was a bit disappointed that they had to part so soon but it was for the best.

"Do not let me keep you then, Oxiin" he said, motioning towards the crowd of people "And for sure, we shall meet again. For now, go celebrate."  

[Ruriska]

Anise gave a small smile back at the teen. “Yes, that would be nice thankyou.” She put her polite voice on, grateful that Cadaver would accept her ‘issues’ without a word and was willing to hang around even while she was stuck in a dark cart. A part of her wished that she could simply walk amongst the crowds and win her own prizes, but the rest of her quavered as the idea. Impossible.

Alex leant his hip against the side of the cart and nodded at Cadaver. “I would very much like to meet others like you and Anise.” He glanced around at the loud, happy crowd. “It will be hard to move the cart around much... and I don’t want to leave her for a second. If you win her a few things and help as grab something to eat later, that would be a great help.” Anise wanted to see the fish; now that would be a difficult one.  

[Divine Keesha]

The sunlight was warm on Lokia's skin as she made her way through the growing crowds. There was some jostling but the fun atmosphere kept most of the people in good humor.

Smells of fresh bread, pungent fish, and many people accented the festival. Some of the smells weren't entirely enjoyable but it would have been for them to be absent all the same.

Looking to take a short break from the pressing heat of the people around her, she headed towards where children were feeding the fish. She paused to watch the children as the air was cooler near the water.  

[Rown]

Syusaki

Arietta chuckled at the lively atmosphere the entire city was drowning in, somehow pushing her way through the bustling streets of Aimes. Admittedly, the large crowd was disconcerting and something that the doctor was unused to, but nothing to prevent her from enjoying the festival. Although she loved being a doctor and using her skills to help others, taking a respite from her job was nice too.

Strolling through with her crossed arms locked in their usual position, she observed the stalls that lined the roads. She walked slowly, much slower than the rest of the people that were scattered around the area. Arietta did not usually frequent Aimes, so she found it to be especially important to take in all the details of the city. Her eyes traveled from one vendor to the next, intently staring at the wares and foods.

The sweet scent of bread suddenly caught her attention and she immediately turned her head, attempting to mask her eagerness as she stopped by a stall. A few seconds later a please Arietta walked away. Her arms were still protectively across her chest, but now she was nibbling on a fish-shaped pastry.

Always looking forward, she was startled when a small weight knocked into her from behind, jolting her. She looked around to spot whoever it was, spotting a dark-skinned child. What an unusual skin color . . . Arietta mused. “You should be more careful about where you walk, young one. You might get someone angry,” she warned.

Rindou wouldn't have even stopped if he hadn't heard a voice that he was pretty sure was directed at him. He hadn't been touched to have his attention grabbed so who could blame him if he kept on going? One would think the blindfold about his eyes would basically tell everyone around him that he was unable to properly see and therefore if someone was talking to him they'd need to make sure he was certain of it. Still, this woman (he thought by the voice at least) was talking to him, since he had bumped into her and all.

"IF YOU'D MOVE THEN I WOULDN'T HAVE TO WALK INTO PEOPLE. I CAN'T SEE AS IT IS SO HOW CAN I WALK PROPERLY? YOU'RE NOT MAKING SENSE."

Instantly Rindou's loud voice flooded the air with its heavy tone, his steps stopping as he turned in the direction he heard the voice coming from. He was getting better at this, much better at finding the origin of things. Before he would have had to flounder, now he could pinpoint....somewhat.

"SHOULDN'T YOU BE WATCHING WHERE YOU'RE GOING? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO CAN SEE AFTER ALL, RIGHT? UNLESS YOU'RE BLIND TOO IN WHICH CASE THAT'S KINDA COOL BUT YOU DON'T SOUND BLIND."

If a person could sound blind then that was a pretty interesting feat. Rindou assumed all that shouted were blind in that case, since he himself shouted. His logic was sound, at least to him anyway.  

[X Purple--Platypus X]

Divine Keesha

The sunlight was warm on Lokia's skin as she made her way through the growing crowds. There was some jostling but the fun atmosphere kept most of the people in good humor.

Smells of fresh bread, pungent fish, and many people accented the festival. Some of the smells weren't entirely enjoyable but it would have been for them to be absent all the same.

Looking to take a short break from the pressing heat of the people around her, she headed towards where children were feeding the fish. She paused to watch the children as the air was cooler near the water.

Having completed his little verbal intercourse with Aren, Oxiin was buoyed up with the excitement of learning this invigorating new information about himself. Dashing through the crowd, his crippled arm swinging uselessly at his side whilst, in the other hand, he clutched the bread that he was going to feed to the fish. However, in his rush he collided with a woman who was looking at the children on the docks. He hadn’t been paying attention and smack! The impact was fairly heavy and it was enough to make Oxiin trip.

Flying downwards towards the floor Oxiin did the best he could to avoid hurting himself badly and thrust his good arm in front of his torso. His palm was grated against the wooden walkway and as he cussed profusely he was certain that he had just obtained multiple splinters. Tears brewing in his eyes he tried to collect himself but found himself looking up angrily at the woman he had barged into. Of course, it was actually his fault, but seeing as he had come off worse his childish mind wanted to blame her – the ‘responsible adult’ – for his pain.

“Ow...” He moaned, biting down hard on his lip in an attempt to prevent himself from bawling. Tears were creeping out of his eyes despite his determination not to cry like a whimp. “That hurt!” His tone of voice was both accusational and demanding some sort of help at the same time. Inge was busy being a mermaid and he was too full of pride to seek comfort from any stranger...

 

[bpyan]

The One Kenzi

Liliasha Gillespa, was most likely in utter awe at that moment. She had arrived that morning to Aimes, and had already made plans for a place to stay for the night, for she still wasn't sure how long she's stay here. Yet she was fully glad that she had decided to come, which was after she had heard of the festival from another traveler like herself. She hadn't been in any real linear trip, just getting out. She traveled very often, as if being one of those silly artists trying to find herself.

And when one looked at her, that normally was the first thought. As she always dressed in long flowly skirts, like the olive green one today, and layered tops. Yet you'd never see here in any bright color, always neutral greens and browns. Her hair, also gave the impression of an artist, as her pale blonde locks were always pulled back into a ponytail, that still reached down to her waist - she never cut it.
To complete the image, she was lugging around an old, somewhat ratty carpetbag, slung over her shoulder.

Though today, Lilia didn't really care much about herself, but mroe of what was going on around her. With all the colors, sounds, smells, people, everything, it was like an all you can eat for your senses. She could hardly remember the last time she'd been in a place with this much going on.

After the original awe of the festival, she was finally able to pull her feet from the ground and start actually seeing what was happening around her. At one point, she reached a stall selling some of those brightly colored paper fish streamers, and such decorative things like that. Happily, she bought one and tied it along a handle of her bag.

Then she slowed down, with a content smile fixed on her face. She did not have to hurry, she reminded herself, it was still the morning, and things were just starting to get good, it would be foolish of her to rush through everything there was to see before it became truly amazing.

Aren watched the other boy walk away and resume joining the festivities. The dust did the same, joining the crowd and trying to blend in the large crowd of humans. He was definitely nervous though, his disguise wasn't perfect but it was the best he could do, covering any more of his face would make his eyesight useless. As he walked he was bumped by a few children as they felt them pushing him gently as they ran around playing a game of tag. He inhaled sharply slumping once again into the cloth that was wrapped around him, his hood right in place.

Different kinds of smell entered his nose, now mostly smells that were sweet and aromatic. His stomach let out a cry of hunger but he ignored it, citing that he could always eat later on. But he felt a bit dizzy, stumbling a little in his place, a moment of weakness. Unfortunately he accidentally held a blond woman's shoulder in support. Realizing this, his eyes widened.

He immediately straightened up, his hand immediately leaving the other. "I-i'm very sorry!" he looked at her and bowed his head a little.