Out with the old....

[sundead]

Who: Everyone
What: New Year's.
When: Dec. 31st, New Year's Eve, to Jan 1st, New Year's Day.
Where: Everywhere
Summary: It's New Year's, and the people of Luceti have a lot to reflect upon, and to look forward to. And on a more meta level, new journal names.
Rating: We'll see...

New Year's brings images of crowds, and songs, and fireworks; staying up til midnight and watching balls or bells being rung. But Luceti is a different time and place. Whether you're partying with friends or watching the sunrise, what are you doing today?

Comments

[rollypolyclover]

[Drat, her plan has been foiled. This needs a little more thought!

Sitting up and just staring at the ground as she ponders this situation. How does one go about hearing a bedtime story without actually being in bed because sleep is for the weak?]

You could come to Yotsuba's house, and I could get into bed, and then you could tell Yotsuba your bedtime story.

[Yesss, this is a good idea. It's not like once she gets into bed she'll be inclined to fall asleep or anything. This is a good plan.]

[menial]

Hmm.

[He pretends to think about it.]

All right. Sounds like a deal to me, Yotsuba-chan.

[rollypolyclover]

Okay! Yaaay! It's over here, so just follow Yotsuba and you'll be in safe hands.

[Speaking of safe hands, Yotsuba grabs onto one of Kyon's and starts tugging his arm.]

[menial]

['Just like my little sister. Man, I can imagine why people liked child labor back in the day. So much energy... And you can fit more of them in per square foot, right?

...Filing that away under "thoughts for a rainy day."']

Lead the way, Yotsuba. I entrust myself to you.

[rollypolyclover]

This way, this way!

[During the entire walk over to her community building, Yotsuba sang some song about bed time and stories and other related things. It made no sense. At all.

So hey! Outside CH5!]

We have arrived! Everybody off.

[menial]

Heh. [He half-mimes getting off a train. Then goes through a routine where his luggage is way too heavy.

'...Okay, I look foolish.'

And so he continues to follow her.]

...By the way, that was a great song, Yotsuba. You'd better not sing it again. It won't be as special if you do it too much.

[rollypolyclover]

That's okay, Yotsuba has lots of other songs about all sorts of stuff. And Yotsuba is a great singer, so I can always make up more songs about anything!

[Hm? Oh, right! Luggage! Suddenly it's time to pretend. Yotsuba is now a bellboy. Girl. Porter. Whatever.]

Are your bags heavy? That's okay, Yotsuba will take them to your room! [Pretending to pick up and carry a suit case which is waaay too heavy for her.] Yotsuba deserves a big tip for this, phew!

[And unless she's stopped she will carry on this routine all the way up to her room.]

[menial]

['What have I done......'

He sighs a little and accompanies her dutifully.]

Okay, you can put the bags down here, Yotsuba-chan.

[rollypolyclover]

Okay! [Throwing her arms up! ...Which would suggest she just hurled this imaginary suitcase God knows where, but whatever.] Since Yotsuba didn't get your bags to the room you don't have to tip! On the house!

[Now then, up the stairs! Run run run~]

[menial]

...Right.

['If anything, I would be suing for possible destruction of property, the way she threw it.'

Up he goes after her.]

[rollypolyclover]

[Running up one flight of stairs, then another, aaand another, all the way up to the sixth floor. Then running down the hallway up to the 26th room and patting the door.]

Door, here! [Turning the handle, pushing it open.] Welcome home, Yotsuba has company so everyone be on your best behaviour! [There's no one else home...]

[menial]

['This is either cute, funny, sad, or all three.']

Nice to meet everyone.

[rollypolyclover]

Yotsuba's room is over here, it's the best one in the whole house! Ten out of ten!

[Running over to her bedroom, flinging the door open and bounding inside onto her bed. She bounces around for a moment or two before settling down.]

Back home I slept on a futon with daddy but Yotsuba gets a bed here! A real bed!

[menial]

Wow, Yotsuba. Are you sure that living in the lap of luxury like this hasn't spoiled you?

[rollypolyclover]

Nah! Yotsuba is trying not to let the high life get to my head... But it's really cool, this bed is so bouncy!!

[Standing up again for another bounce or two-- YES. SHE'S VERY SPOILED HERE. SHE GETS AWAY WITH SO MUCH MORE THAN SHE WOULD AT HOME--]

So, story time? Now? Right now?

[menial]

[Slight sigh.]

Sure. Better get ready for bed, though. For realism.

[rollypolyclover]

[Nodding her head quickly and diving under the covers, making sure to roll back and forth to get comfy.

This face, staring right at you Kyon. Story time now?]

[menial]

[He pauses.]

Well. Once upon a time, I met a girl who was totally crazy. She dragged everyone around to do things all the time. Crazy things, too. But she had a secret... A secret she didn't even know about. She could make her wishes come true. And when she got particularly bored with what was going on, she would just think about what if there was a new world. What if there was another place to go?

One night, when everyone was asleep, when she was particularly bored... She started to fall asleep wishing for the world to change.

[rollypolyclover]

What was the girl's name?

[Settling down into her bed properly now.]

She sounds crazy cool... [Even if she doesn't seem to be a princess or anything else yet.]

[menial]

...Well, she didn't have a name so much as a title. She was called... the sleeping snow chief.

['Creative, self. I guess it's better than "White Beauty." Yuch.']

Because at the moment she was sleeping, of course. And she was a princess, so she was called the chief. And once I was asleep, I suddenly found myself with the chief inside this gray world... A world that was getting ready to disperse, in what we all thought was a dream, and create that new world she'd dreamed of.

But she still didn't know about it. She caught sight of the world breaking down around her, and she asked what was going on, though she felt a natural connection with it. I was there, so I was the only person who could give her an answer, and I thought about it. I wondered what was the right thing to do for the sake of the world.

[rollypolyclover]

[Whoah. This is getting pretty deep. But at least the story has a princess now, Yotsuba can totally get behind this.]

Why was the sleeping princess chief the sleeping snow princess chief, was it snowing too? Snow is really fun but it's also cold so wrap up warm!

[Feeling a yawn coming on, Yotsuba clamps her hands down over her face. Not tired, not yawning, nope.]

What answer did you tell her? Was the world okay, it got better right?

[menial]

That was just her name, Yotsuba. Her title, that is.

...Well, I had to think about what to say. Do you think the world is better off the way it is, or is it better off taking a chance on a new world? Do we want to discover the undiscovered country, or do we want to stay where we are, because there's still things to know here?

And finally, there were these creatures, bright blue giants, breaking down the buildings and throwing things around, shaking the earth...

She wanted to go outside, and this girl almost always gets what she wants one way or another, so she ran outside dragging me along, telling me that things were going to be better. That they would never be boring again.

[He pauses and eyes her to see how she's doing.]

[rollypolyclover]

[Every now and then her heads bobs to one side, and then to other. Slowly, ever so slowly, her eyes start closing-- NO SHE'S WIDE AWAKE. Sleepy again... But awake! Very awake. She's fighting this, for the sake of hearing the story. Her voice seems to lose the 'constantly excited' tone to it and instead sounds much more subdued.]

The world would be better if all the people who pulled Yotsuba's hair disappeared. Maybe the princess wants the same, it could happen.

[Yaaaawn. Ugh.]

She dragged you outside with all the blue giants? Oh no, don't get thrown around Kyon. Fight the blue giants with your superpower.

[Yes, superpower. Whatever that might be.]

[menial]

Well, I don't have a superpower, Yotsuba. The princess had all the powers here. Luckily for us, the blue giants were busier destroying the school and blowing up the gates and throwing things around, anyway. She thought they were friendly and they wouldn't hurt us, and ultimately, they were her servants, of course. She just didn't remember.

...So there was really only one thing to do. I had to talk to her... I had to convince her somehow that the world was worth saving. That there was something to be interested in in the old world... That there wasn't any need for a new world.

['...And so I did.

Of course.

That's the Haruhi I know... Not someone who I can't read or guide or understand.

How would I have guessed that I would miss that so much?']

[rollypolyclover]

That's bad, you're not meant to throw stuff. Daddy gets mad but then Yotsuba throws things anyway. Pine cone. Right to the face.

[Yawn~ Okay look, she's just going to rest her eyes. This isn't her going to sleep or anything.]

What did you say to convince the snow princess chief person then? Happy ending.