Light 'em up (The Calderan Day of Fire)

[expertonshutters]

It's the morning of the 19th and it's clear even to the inexperienced traveler that the city has a different air to it. If it wasn't the atmosphere that got them, then the stalls lining the streets would. Many people are still working on getting set up for the night festival, but the stalls that are complete are lining many corners and they are filled to the brim with bright colors. From afar, the streets look like someone threw a rainbow of paint across the city.

They haven't seen anything yet.

It's not yet time for the festivities so any visitors are free to wander the streets. The natives seem to be delighted if amused at all the people interested in the holiday and are happy to sell anyone as much colored powder as they want. They are glad to explain the fascinating origins of the holiday or even talk shop about what they're planning to show off later in the night. It seems that not even the gloom and unease that might have rolled into town with Union has caused these people to falter with their grandest tradition.

Sometime close to noon is when things change. The natives all kind of stop what they're doing. The colored stalls start to close up and everyone looks tense. Those who visited last year might take this as their cue to get ready.

A long, rattling trumpet sound rings through the streets and that is when all hell breaks loose.

It's every person and pokemon for themselves. Have fun everyone.

[Ooc: Feel free to make your own top levels in addition to using the prompts below! Have fun guys!]

Comments

[rainsrespite]

[Come get him, you say? Very well. Just because she can, and she knows it'll make you squirm, Yuuna picks up an entire bucket of colors and glides (literally) across the ground to avoid detection. She's good, and her pendant helps keep the nagging psychic senses at bay.

So she can dump the whole thing on your head.]

[untalented]

[He doesn't see it coming. At all.

Not that he could see much through the thick barrier of the goggles he had found in some Gods forsaken thrift shop in Union before they left. They were a relic of a pair of mountaineering goggles-- the most they did was protect his eyes from most of the debris and provide some sun protection.

They were nothing against having a Crazy Color Cloud dumped on top of him.

Waver's yelp of surprise quickly broke of in choked sputters and coughs as he, now effectively blinded by the very thing he had tried to use to protect himself, tried to find the source of this mess.]

I--I'm still not one-hundred percent on the rules, [he called once he caught his breath, ripping those goggles from his face and throwing them into the dirt.] But I think that's cheating!

[rainsrespite]

[Yuuna breaks into a rich, happy, belly laugh and tosses the bucket aside. Only Waver would respond like that. Only...Waver...]

Hah! Only...you would...hah...think of it as cheating!

[And then she hugs him, picking him up and spinning his colorful self around.]

[untalented]

[Though he had grown a couple of inches in the last several months, Yuuna was still a good deal taller than him-- the act takes him by surprise and, with another yelp, he reached up and plopped a handful of color right on top of her head.]

Of course it is-- there's gotta be a rule against attacks like that.

[He sighed.]

But I cheated too, so now we're even.

[rainsrespite]

[She cackles at at that, spinning him around one more time and dropping him back onto his feet.]

Not that I'm aware of but I'm just an ignorant Union girl!

[She puts fists on hips and shakes color out of her hair.]

You look like you'd rather be flying instead of partying.

[untalented]

Yeah, and I'm from the wrong side of Sanctuary.

[He tried to wipe his face clean, but only managed to smear the different colors together in a mess that he would thoroughly regret later.]

At this point, it looks safer in the sky than on the ground. What's your plan?

[rainsrespite]

Plan? For what? Waver, this is a party, not a warzone.

[untalented]

It's not just a party, Yuuna. It's a game.

And that means we have to plan if we're gonna win.

[rainsrespite]

...wait.

[She blinks.]

Who are you and what have you done with Waver?

[untalented]

[He answered by dropping more colors into her hair.]

I'm still here. Union's becoming a bad influence on me.

[rainsrespite]

[And she responds by smearing hands in his.]

Union? Really? We don't do things like this in Union.

[Shut up, Yuuna...]

[untalented]

[His hair he had given up on. So long as he didn't get any dust in his eyes, he figured he would be mostly okay.]

You guys from Union are so optimistic I'm surprised I haven't gotten cavities by now, [Waver confessed, falling back on his standard tactic of whining and complaining at the drop of a hat.] Part of me honestly can't believe that we're here having a party when there's things that still need to be done so we can be prepared for....whatever comes next.

[rainsrespite]

[Yuuna presses a hand to her chest in mock offense.]

We are too sweet for you? Truly? [She can't keep it up though, and just snorts another laugh.]

The reason we're here is to relieve tension. Not to dwell on it. It's normal and natural. That's what human beings do.

[untalented]

[Waver just makes a face at all of this, his confusion and discontent evident in every fiber of his being.]

Maybe-- I just know that Gigas isn't liable to give us that luxury, and I don't want to be caught off guard again.

[rainsrespite]

Well, think of it this way. We're closer than we were, and they have to pass through our communication network. Plus, their citizens are not happy. So, we probably have a few weeks.

[untalented]

Yeah, I can just imagine the PR mess they're having right now.

[He sighed.]

It's worse than the Magi and their Homunculi.

[rainsrespite]

It is. An immortal emperor keeping a group of four incredibly powerful Pokemon deities below the city is not exactly good news.

[untalented]

It's not, and I hate how we can't do something about it.

[But, their hands were tied by time and politics. They just had to wait this out.]

Even if the best thing to do right now is choke on clouds of color here, it just doesn't sit right.

[rainsrespite]

It may not sit right, but sometimes you just have to live in the moment, Waver.

[That's really it.]

We'll have another shot. Gigas can't remain silent on this with us forever.

[untalented]

I know that, rationally. I just can't help the thinking part of it, is the problem.

[Always an academic at heart, he just didn't like sitting and doing nothing when there was data to gather and trials to be run.

Still, at a loss for what to do with himself, he dropped more colors on Yuuna's head.]

...I'm not good at this 'fun' thing, but this is a step up from last year.

[That being, he hasn't had his pokemon use Mud Shot on anyone yet.]

[rainsrespite]

[And she dropped more right back.]

Well messing with me is a start. why don't we go see if we can find someone like Sophia and introduce her to it?

[untalented]

Yeah....Sophia might be a little safer than that pigtailed smart-ass, too.

[She was tiny, with pigtails and was always being terrifying at the worst of times...]

[rainsrespite]

Pigtailed smart-ass...?

[A beat.]

Do you mean Maka?

[untalented]

As if I could be talking about anyone else but Albarn.

[He frowned just thinking about her.]

She's just....just too much sometimes!

[Nevermind that he was older than her, and had no reason to be afraid of a spunky teenage girl.]

[rainsrespite]

Maka's half your size, and you're at least five years older...

[Yuuna picks him up by the back of his shirt and peers at him.]

How on earth is she picking on you?