Harvest Festival!

[sunshinemods]

Welcome everyone to the first Harvest Festival of the season! All are invited, be they civilian, shinobi, or samurai, so long as they have money to spend!

The event is rather simple, and was organized by the Fire Daimyo on the Northwestern border of the country, an hour away from the nearest seal point and within a good shinobi's throw's distance of Ame. Travel to and from this should be rather simple, and anyone is welcome to drop in and mingle.

The days of the event are the 22nd until the 29th, and there will be a series of small cooking competitions (pumpkin use, BBQ, desserts, deep fried, jams, noodles, rice dishes, and lunch food) with one happening each morning for those who wish to put in an entry (or judge). There will also be eating competitions in the late afternoon for various things.

There will be a great many people coming through selling their wares, largely food related, but it's a good place to stop by and socialize!

Anyone is allowed to man the NPC journal for this and be a civilian or a competitor for the characters who are being played by their players. The goal here is to have fun, so let's do this thing!

Comments

[scarecrowboy]

He actually graced the other with a glance at that, reaching out his free hand for a shake, since.. That was probably what normal people did for a first greeting. He smiled, eye creasing as if to describe exactly how long it had been since the expression had last graced his face.

"Good to meet you, Nagato."

[teachingpeace]

He stared at his hand not unlike Kakashi had just attempted to hand him a particularly angry snake, then reached out and gave a small quick shake, minimizing the contact. He didn't know the man well enough to be comfortable keeping his hand confined for any length of time given the other shinobi's reputation.

Not that he felt threatened, but it was uncomfortable.

"It is good to meet you as well Hatake-san. Kushina has mentioned you obliquely and it made me curious."

[scarecrowboy]

Kakashi was used to that kind of reaction. He'd been pinned for intimidating before, but.. honestly it had only ever made him laugh. After all.. Him? Intimidating??

"Oh, Kushina?" he mused, closing his book and actually paying attention to the other man now, regarding him with a polite level of interest. "I hope she painted me in a good light.." he joked, though there was every possibility that she didn't.

[teachingpeace]

He shook his head once, then settled back on the bench, relaxed and watching him curiously. "She mentioned you more as a mother's view of a child than anything, so I cannot say if that is good or bad."

[scarecrowboy]

That was.. not what he'd been hoping for, but then he supposed it wasn't technically a bad rep, so he couldn't complain much.

He tried to keep the conversation going with "I'm assuming you've seen a photo of me, then? Unless her description was that precise.." and laughed a little.

[teachingpeace]

"You're in the bingo book Hatake-san. I keep close track of such things." He shook his head only once, a small smile fleetingly touching his lips. "You have nothing to be concerned from in regards to me."

[scarecrowboy]

"That's a relief," Kakashi smiled. "Though, I doubt you'd tell me so freely if you were a reason to be concerned."

All things considered, Nagato's hair and general mannerisms were very familiar to him, so he didn't doubt the authenticity of his claim. He could have been using Kushina's name to lull Kakashi into false security, but it really did seem like they were at least related. He didn't ask, though. It would be rude, and Kakashi had visited the harvest festival to take his mind off of... Well, everything. As far as he was concerned he was no more than a civilian right now, and showed it by reaching into the bag at his feet and unboxing a selection of savory treats he'd bought. Taking one in hand, he leaned the box to his new companion.

"Want one?"

[teachingpeace]

He blinked at him a few times, surprised. What was it with Konoha shinobi feeding him? He accepted gracefully however with a nod of his head and picked one out. "Thank you very much."

[scarecrowboy]

"Don't mention it."

Kakashi smiled, his mouth already somehow full of a treat of his own, and cast his one visible eye out across the expanse of busy people bustling about stalls, laden with various bags and packages.

"So what brings you here, Nagato?"

[teachingpeace]

"I'm trying to better get used to not being in my country at all times to ease the stress of it." It was a murmur, and he looked back toward Ame with ease. He could feel it from here, after all. He looked back to Kakashi a moment later.

"I've only started to travel properly in recent months."

[scarecrowboy]

Kakashi made a noise of thought, leaning forward with his elbows propped on his knees.

"I have the opposite problem. I'm almost a stranger in mine as of late.." He chased the words with a soft laugh like it was a joke, but there was some twitch in his expression that was incredibly reminiscent of guilt.

[teachingpeace]

"I couldn't do that." He shook his head, a small, affectionate smile on his lips. "I love Ame far too much to spend more time than I have to away. But I'm working on it, because it needs to be able to handle itself when I'm not there. Perhaps your predicament is the same, but opposite?"

[scarecrowboy]

Kakashi's eyebrow quirked a that. He couldn't say he had the same feelings about Ame due to the sheer amount of troublesome rain that drowned out his sensory skills... but Konoha? Well..

"How do you mean? I'm sure my problem is that I'm much to susceptible to monotony." He laughed again, in that same jokey tone, and with that same thread of guilt.

[teachingpeace]

"I mean perhaps... you love your home, or people there, but you do not know how to be there and feel more useful away instead. Thus, you need to work on figuring out how to be there and how to handle yourself there?"

[scarecrowboy]

That was... strange. He'd never met Nagato before, and the only exposure to Kakashi that the other man had was, apparently, his picture in the bingo book and Kushina's vague comments... So how was it that he could pin Kakashi's predicament so easily?

He brushed the comment off, however, with a wave of a hand and a little laugh.

"I just like my space, that's all."

[teachingpeace]

He studied him thoughtfully at the answer. "If that were true, you wouldn't be talking to me I suspect."

[scarecrowboy]

"You think?" Kakashi regarded the man beside him with a side-on glance from his visible eye, then cast his gaze upward, thinking. "MaybeI just like meeting new people."

[teachingpeace]

He hummed, then inclined his head. "I wouldn't think that space was what you were searching for then."

[scarecrowboy]

"I suppose it depends who and what exactly I want space from.." Oh, that was getting a little too close to sounding personal, and Kakashi cleared his throat a little awkwardly to distil the air.

[teachingpeace]

"...I suppose I can understand that, in theory. I'm not used to anything opposite space really."

[scarecrowboy]

Kakashi made a noise that made it clear he wished he hadn't opened his mouth, and scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck.

"You sound like you have a reasonably easy life, then."

[teachingpeace]

That drew a noise of startled amusement out of him, and he covered his mouth with a pale hand. "Do I? I wouldn't be able to agree."

[scarecrowboy]

"Compared to some. The love of a village and a firm contentedness there is one of the more easy afflictions to suffer with." He shrugged a shoulder, idly.

[teachingpeace]

He blinked at him a few times, and then shook his head, his hand covering his mouth still to hide his smile though he perhaps should have lowered it. "If only it were so simple. You make my life sound charming."

[scarecrowboy]

"I guess another life would sound charming to anyone disheartened with their own.." Kakashi muttered.. and then realised what he said. He cleared his throat and sat up a little more straight. "Not that I'm disheartened, just that it's easy to see light in someone else's life than your own."