Large fukinagashi dangle from large ropes suspended over the streets that make up the marketplace. The heimin vendors, wearing the colors of their lords have decorated their stores with lanterns and miniature paper kimono. The air is heavy with the scent of fried food, carts selling fried mushroom, otori and fish competing for space. With obnoxiously loud peddlers everywhere, it is rather hard to hear what anyone is saying. Traditional festival games are also present, with more than few heimin offering the samurai a chance to fish for a small Asakaze bronzefin or to try their hand with a nerf gun. A somewhat scantily clad young man beckons the visitors try their luck with raffle-strings by a stand selling traditional masks, though some of the designs have clearly been influenced by the local fauna.

Each game below costs 5 zeni to play once.


Gun-Shooting
The participants are given a nerf toy gun and are allowed to shot from a display of prizes for what they want. If the shooter is successful in hitting the prize, they claim it! The participants roll Firearms/Reflexes at the corresponding TN below for a prize of their choice.

The prizes are as follows:
Box of Cookies at TN15
Sweet Carbonated Drink at TN20
Bag of Candy at TN25
Miniature statue of one of the Seven Fortunes at TN30
Kami-Pet at TN35

Rafflestrings
A game of pure chance where the participant pulls on a string among several bundles of them. Upon pulling a string that is attached to a corresponding prize, the participant wins it! The participant rolls a 1d10 and claims a prize depending on the result!

1-5: Nothing
6-7: a small clay statue of a Fortune
8-9: a small 1' plushie of local fauna
10: a large 2' plushie of local fauna

Goldfish Scooping
The participants are given a small scoop made with washi paper and a bowl to scoop out young bronze fi from a shallow pool filled with them. The objective is to scoop out as many goldfish from the pond before the wash paper breaks.

Participants roll Hunting/Perception at TN15 to get one goldfish and may try again but the next difficulty is raised by +TN2 (going from 15 to 17, then 17 to 19 and so on). On failure, the washi paper breaks and the game is over.

It was suitable to wear traditional garb for a day like this, and Hyeon-ju sported a purple furisode with a bold pattern of peonies. White lacey gloves and a small brooch at the crossing of her collar added some accessorising touches to make it more personalised for her.

Of course, since it was a festival, she allowed herself to take part in some of the more childish things she hadn't done in a few years: goldfish-scooping.

One fish, two fish, three fish, four fish! Not even in her childhood had she been this successful with scooping. So she was quite satisfied when the paper broke at the fifth attempt.


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D11 EE Goldfish scooping! Hunting/Perception TN 15: 4d10o10k3 24
D11 EE Goldfish scooping! Hunting/Perception TN 17: 4d10o10k3 24
D11 EE Goldfish scooping! Hunting/Perception TN 19: 4d10o10k3 29
D11 EE Goldfish scooping! Hunting/Perception TN 21: 4d10o10k3 24
D11 EE Goldfish scooping! Hunting/Perception TN 23: 4d10o10k3 18
4 Goldfish!

Fusako gave a Koku to the rafflestring organizer for 10 pulls. She ended up getting a small statue of Fukurokujin, and a small and large plushie of some local animals. Was that good?

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10x 1d10 = 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10

Satoru was at the festivities of course, dressed in his higher quality robes so black they seemed to be made of shadow themselves or obsidian woven into fabric.

He wandered the stalls and games not yet sure what he was interested in. He saw Fusako at the raffle and approached her with an appropriate bow "Any luck with the drawings Asahina-sama?" He asked as he straightened.

Her brow furrowed before giving a small bow, looking to her 'haul'. "I am not certain Kuchiki-san. Would you call two plush animals and a small statue lucky?"

"Well at least you chose the statue wisely." He said adjusting his glasses "I suppose the matter of luck depends on what Asahina-sama was hoping for."

"I'm not exactly certain what I was expecting," she admitted. "Neither are really my style, but perhaps they will be good gifts for others. Have you tried your hand at anything yet?"

Arriving nearly as early as she could, Ichika came to the marketplace with the yukata that she bought here just yesterday with Shinjo Yul. Standing on the outside she thought it best to meet Hiruma Chiyoko here instead of somewhere else. By some of the faire stalls she held her purse in her hand and stood proudly in the light floral blue yukata with an eyepatch that was colored a similar blue rather than the ugly medical yellow of her standard.

"Yes you dont quite seem the type for plushies, though I am sure whoever receives them will appreciate the gesture." He shook his head slightly "Not as of yet I was merely seeing what the festival had to offer and you were as always hard to miss."

Fusako nodded before spotting Ichika. Giving a small grin, she waved at the Doji. "Ichika-san, over here! Kuchiki-san, have you met Doji Ichika before? Ichika-san, this is Kuchiki Satoru."

Satoru bowed "Indeed I have, Doji-san and I have run across each other's path a couple of times." He said to Fusako.

Turning to Ichika "I hope all has been well Doji-san, you look nice tonight." He said with his usually amount of expressive emotion, which is to say very little.

Tanabata. The one day of the year when all but the most jaded of people could believe that romantic love was real. Moriko held a special soft spot in her heart for the festival, and this year was—to her surprise—a special year. She was wearing the nicest thing she owned, a real, traditional furisode, and Hoshiko had helped with her hair, though strands were already falling down to frame her face and neck. The Phoenix still felt like a princess.

Moving through the marketplace, Moriko shot a dark look at the individual running the goldfish scooping stand. Even if the participants had a large enough tank at home (they probably didn't), and it was all set up and ready to go (it probably wasn't), the poor fish were unlikely to last more than a week due to stress and poor breeding. She'd be giving that activity a wide berth.

Once Yul had set his sights on something, he was usually determined on getting it. In this case, what he had his sites on was a kami pet. And also the target that he had to shoot to win a kami pet.

It felt a little strange to be aiming even a fake rifle in his new clothes, but Yul did his best, taking a careful stance. And then, after a few moments of concentration, fired his shot, the nerf projectile arcing through the air until it struck the target.

"Alright!" Yul cheered, grinning, as the worker passed him the prize. "Now this is a more portable souvenir for Geriel."

Walking with her prizes in hand, Hyeon-ju bought some raffle-strings as well. The first batch only gave her some small boring clay statues when she wanted at least one plushie, and as luck would have it, she got exactly that on the next try.

A rather large reptile of some sort. At least she thought it was a reptile.


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D11 EE Raffle-strings. 2 strings: 2#1d10 6 6
D11 EE Raffle-strings. 2 strings: 2#1d10 5 10
1 small clay statue of Benten, 1 small clay statue of Bishamon, 1 large Nessie-plushie

"Moriko-san." The voice came from behind her. During the events, he had only brought his formal dress uniform, and his field dress. That afternoon, he had gone out, looked forna fine kimono.

It had taken time, but he found one in a style he liked. And in his colors. His hair was kept loose, and long, coming down past his shoulders. In his obi, the fan he had been given when he graduated. Matte black, with a fine black bone ribbing. "You look amazing."

Moriko had never wished for a fan so strongly in her life, bringing a sleeve up to cover her blushing face "Ryuu-san," apparently quite tongue tied, her wide, chocolate eyes took in the vision before her. So long she'd wanted to see his hair loose, and it was more stunning than she had imagined. "Thank you, but you," there was probably a word to fit the situation—captivating, dazzling, bewitching, gorgeous stunning—but none of those came to her, "you look... magnificent." There was a hint of uncertainty in the word, knowing it wasn't the one she needed.

In between some countryside sight setting, shopping and some time at the gym, Hiruma Chiyoko made an appearance at the marketplace side of the festival. It was less fancy here by far and she had heard that the Governor supposedly held a garden-side celebration for the miai and important guests. However, there was a lot of charm to be found here nevertheless and that was something that couldn't be replicated with a big budget.

She milled around the busy ground, shifting past her share of heimen who were going about their own humble festivities with the strap to her holo-record around her body. Thankfully, she managed to score a good find here a few days ago, after going through the great abundance of orange and red yukata sold here. Her outfit was a dark blue yukata with quaint little koi on it.

"Hiruma-sama!" Ichika called out as soon as she spotted her, giving a big wave toward Chiyoko as she arrived. Before stepping forward she found herself noting a familiar voice behind her she added it to the mental to-do list. Turning first to Fusako, giving her a big wave from where she was before pointing in Chiyoko's direction and holding up her index. Clapping her hands together and giving a quick bow of her head.

Looking back for Chiyoko again she grabbed the woman's attention. When Chiyoko caught her eye Ichika smiled brightly and then made her way through a small crowd of heimin working their way toward their own festivities. Which merely consisted of letting half pass before the other half insisted she go through, giving a quick smile and a wave to them before she practically hop-skipped over there.

"Come on, I just caught you when I was getting waved over," she said, happily directing Chiyoko over toward Satoru and Fusako.

"I... it has been some time since I have been dressed as such. I think I annoyed the shopkeeper when I was looking for something in black." He chuckled, his hands moved so that his arms crossed, hands disappearing into the sleeves. "It seemed appropriate for a festival." Ryuu nodded, looking about at the crowds.

"I wanted to thank you, for inviting me to accompany you. It is all I wanted." He beamed to her.

"It suits you," she lowered the long furisode sleeve to reveal a smile, her cheeks still touched with pink. Glancing about, she seemed to war within herself, but she finally pointed out the shooting gallery, "why don't we see if I can do better with a stationary target?" Her marksmanship the previous day had left something to be desired, but she was sure she could win something to eat or drink.