The servants have spent hours decorating the gardens for the festival under the watchful eye of the governor's own officials. Large paper lanterns in various hues of orange and red hang from the fungal stalks, colorful ribbons, illuminated by the warm lights fluttering in the gentle, though the night air is still uncomfortably hot. Heimin selling shaved ice, onigiri and cold drinks roam the garden, each of them wearing a haori showing the governor's personal mon, greeting each and every samurai with a forced smile on their lips.

Someone has laid small electric lanterns on the wide fungal blooms dotting the shallow lake, the almost cyan waters shimmering in the artificial light. The water reeks rancid, meaning that the visitors tend to observe the sight from a distance. A large bonfire has been set up in a mostly safe location, traditional music providing rhythm for the dancers.

Each game below costs 5 zeni to play once.

Toy Scooping
The participants are given a small scoop made with washi paper and a bowl to scoop out several dozens of miniature toys from a shallow pool filled with them. The toys are small and cheap but include popular characters from Starlight Miko Crusaders and The Amazing Adventures of Space Hero Pilot Captain Inu Shikoku-ken, Courageous Warriors of the Star! The objective is to scoop out as many toys from the pond before the scoop breaks.

Participants roll Sleight of Hand/Agility at TN15 to get one toy and they may try again but the next difficulty is raised by +TN5 (going from 15 to 20, then 20 to 25 and so on). On failure, the washi paper breaks and the game is over. Using the Sleight of Hand skill is not considered a Low Skill here.

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

Each game below costs 5 zeni to play once.

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.

After leaving a tearful message in the gardens, Ishiyo moves through the gardens. Her emotions weighed heavy on her mind.

And then.....

"Is...is that...Captain Inu Shikoku-ken?" Ishiyo peered into the water, "And the rest of them too....oh and the evil Lupus Mallum....I desire these. I desire these greatly."

"5 zeni and try..." As the vendor spoke, Ishiyo typed a few things on her credit stick, "....your....luc....BISAHMON'S BALLS?! 5 KOKU?!"

The Crane rolled up her sleeves. "Give me the scope. Now."

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Sleight of Hand rolls for Inu-tai toys. Untrained. Starting at TN15: 10#3d10 25 22 20 18 28 27 9 21 12 9 5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Fail (25); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Pass (25), Fail (30); 5 zeni: pass (15), fail (20)

6 successes
15/250 zeni

"Are you sure...I mean..." The vendor winced at a glare from Ishiyo. "By all means...here a new scoop."

The Crane continued to pull toys, her focus was on the goal: ALL THE TOYS. ALL OF THEM.

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Sleight of Hand rolls for Inu-tai toys. Untrained. Starting at TN15 #2: 10#3d10 25 21 17 18 13 21 13 10 15 15

5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Fail (25); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Fail (20); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Fail (25); 5 zeni: Fail (15); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Fail (20)

11 Successes so far
40/250 zeni

Wearing a reasonable yukata, Akemi came out of the group of people dancing, sweaty from efforts and heat, in search for a drink.

She kind of froze at the vision of the Marquise of Herons frenziedly scooping a pool dry, a pile of toys by her side and a terrified merchant in front of her.

Then she bought a drink and sat to watch.

“Another.” Ishiyo held out her hand.

“Samurai-sama, please other people are waiting…” The vendor rubbed his forehead and eyed the crowd that had gathered.

“Another.” The Crane kept her hand held out.

“Please...you can come back.” He nervously adds, hand trembling as he picked up another paper scoop.

“Another.” She asked again, eyes afire.

And so it continued!

---------------------------------

Sleight of hand. More toys. So much zeni. TN15 escalating: 30#3d10 21 20 15 12 19 23 18 21 20 18 18...

Spare SoH Roll. TN25: 3d10 11

5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Fail (25); 5 zeni: Fail (15); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Fail (25); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Fail (25); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Fail (20); 5 zeni: Fail (15); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Fail (25); 5 zeni: Fail (15); 5 zeni: Fail (25); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Fail (20); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Fail (25); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Fail (25); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Fail (20); 5 zeni: Pass (15), Pass (20), Fail (25)

28 Successes
105/250 zeni

Izumi stopped . . . not even his yukata of fox people doing human things could match this. Ishiyo managed something few had this Miai.

She reduced the Fox to no words at all, as he watched her dedication . . .

This whole spectacle would continue until at least Ishiyo seems satisfied. The heimen was five koku richer and utterly terrified something horrifying had occured.

"...a bag please."

With shell shocked eyes the heimen turns to the Crane maiden. "...whhhat Samurai-sama?" OH KAMI MORE SHE WANTS MORE....

"I said can I have a bag please for all these toys. Actually two if I could."

"And..and then you will leave?"

Ishiyo nods and inspects her pile.

The vendor pulled out two empty sacks. He had survived.

With that out of the way Ishiyo sacks up the Inu-tai and non-Inu-tai toys. She hands out a few of the non-Inu-tai toys to some children. One child even managed to con her out of an Inu-tai toy!

"Oh...sorry Hida-san, Kitsune-sama...I guess I got carried away." She smiles apologetically. "I did not even notice you were there."

---------------------------
Boogie OKAY'd handwaving the rest. Assumption of 2x currently rolled successes

So a sack of 56 successes worth of toys!

"Impressivehaul, Daidoji-san. YoulikeInu-taithen?"

He grinned.

Ishiyo grinned at that, "I love the show! I was upset they did not screen it at all on the planet." She opened the bag to show the fox her haul. "Are you a fan too?" Her eyes practically sparkled at that, some of her earlier melancholy erased by a few pounds of plastic toys. That are dogs. In space suits. Also 2 wolves. Dressed like Yodotai.

"Ihaven'tseenanyinalongtime. Don'tthinkit'sverypopularonLioncasts. IwasverylittlewhenIlastsawsome."

Considering his size now . . . really little.

Chiruha was sure to make an appearance at Tanabata, especially when it would serve as a great distraction after all of the excitement yesterday. There was going to be good wholesome fun here. Last but not least, there was a good chance that this could be the last time she would see some of the guests here before they returned home to set their marital affairs in order.

She was dressed in an eye-catching pink and blue yukata with off-world floral prints, going for something fun and different to stand out in a place with a multitude of orange outfits.



She wouldn't be alone, however. There was a Shiba who lingered close to her like a shadow, especially in a place with so many people.

While not as close and keeping his casual distance while eyeing the events of of the toy-scooping, Ryo was also in attendance. He wore an orange yukata with a brown haori that had a grid-like pattern on it.

Nishida strolled around the Tanabata wearing his newly acquired Yukata, Akechi was at his side with Mochi on a leash. The overly excited Shiba Inu would get his evening walk one way or the other.

Nishida had watched the horrifying event that has taken place. Part of him was jealous that someone had done so much Koku in such a short time with so little effort. Another part was disgusted by the sheer waste of money.

He walked towards Akemi. "Good Evening Akemi-san, i hope you have fun?"

Akemi took a bit of time to tear her eyes away from the show.

"Uh? Oh, good evening Yasuki-sama. Sorry, got kind of distracted by what was happening. Do you think the Crane is trying to drown her sorrow in toys or something?"

She finally gave a look at the other people around her and whispered:

"Isn't the Phoenix with a bodyguard the governor's daughter? Why aren't you by her side?"

Izumi waved a 'hello' to Chiruha when he spotted her but waited politely for the Crane to answer as they were already in Inu-tai conversation.

He turned around to see the woman in question. Then blushed a little, coughed and sayed: "Uhm,.. well uhh,.. i,.. I was caught up with Daidoji-san, yes, that i was." He fixed his glasses.

"But you're right, maybe i should go over to her."

"Go for it champ'. You'll regret it later if you don't."

Nishida nodded, then took a deep breath in and approached Chiruha.

He bowed and greeted her and Rena "Good evening, Chiruha-san, Good evening Shiba-san, ... how, .. uhm,.. it's a lovely festival, isn't it?"

Ishiyo blinked as the fox's speech ran past her, "Ah...well my experience so fah is the episodes that centeh on the clan in question tend to get more attention then the ones that do not. From what I can tell here, they mainly just played the Phoenix episodes and some otheh episodes to help with context."

"I would say we have not meet personally but...I recall you were 'tearing up the dance floor' at Kayama fairly early in miai. I believe myself and Nakauchi-san danced around you."

He nodded, the usual big grin plastered across his face.

"Yes.Yes. ItlookedlikeyouandMumei-sanwerehavingfun."

He assumed she was already familiar with his name as he knew hers, but a niggling memory of his etiquette teacher shouting at a class of unruly pre-teen Foxes to always be polite came to mind.

"KitsuneIzumi, IworkforKitsuneBiopharmaticals."