asphodelmeadows | Entries tagged with open post

Such a lovely day- The perfect day for sitting in the park, or having lunch on a terrace, or walking where a car would serve.

Naturally, there were no extra people in the streets.

Well, maybe one or two- Inoue didn't spend every afternoon, eating a steak sandwich on a bus bench. But it gave a perfect view of the mentioned park, the center fountain a few yards away, across the street. Nothing worth noting, but a perfect thing to stare at as you wait for the bus... Or for a delivery truck, that just happens to swerve and hit a fire hydrant, spraying water on a tree at the park edge.

Poor driver, getting out and yelling for help. Not only is his truck crashed, but it was badly hatched, bt the doors sprang open on impact and spewed plastic, colored eggs all over the street. Luckily, a dozen or so pedestrians - who just happened to have empty shopping bags on hand - all broke their walk to come towards the mess, picking up eggs and calling reassurances to the driver, who wasn't even looking in his breakdown.

Crunching his wrapper in his hand, Inoue got up and tossed it in the garbage, turning to go just as everyone else was stalling to stare - if only for a moment. He didn't need to stay, after all. The hard timing was done, and he knew the rest. The happy helpers would forget what they were holding, and promptly trip on their ways home, dropping the eggs all over again in various parts of town. A small, if strangely synchronized mishap, which shouldn't cause too much ruckus.

But it would keep anyone curious enough to pick them up quite busy - if for only a while.

windupgadget

Despite the popular draw of alcohol, the local bar didn't see much regular service. If people wanted a good time, with lots of food and karaoke, they went down to that one place down near the port, and ordered a drink there. And besides that, only a small handful bothered at all, when it felt like everybody worked every single day. Who had the time?

Except this weekend the whole town had gone off its rocker, and if there was anything all of them could use, it was an escape. Unfortunately, it was having questionable results. The later it got, the more people screamed at the games showing on the televisions, or sobbed into their cups, or just outright punched someone who looked at them the wrong way.

Too bad the staff looked too frayed themselves to bother kicking the last sort out.

devilishdeals

“I'm just so sorry! I should have watched where I was going more- Oh, there's no way they'll keep me-”

The server let out a sob, one hand still holding a cloth in the middle of the wine spilled over the table. A bit over the top, perhaps, but then maybe the couple didn't need to scream so loudly, and storm out of the building. It was enough to draw more than a few glances, even though that wasn't the only table to boast a weepy customer that night.

Inoue, for his part, was dry-eyed, allowing the incident no more than a side-glance before wolfing down another bite of meat. Though he was a little less vicious about it than usual, and his face was near level with the booth, slouching down in his seat like that. To the untrained eye, he looked like nothing more than a weary patron, face drawn in a frown likely formed from a frustrating, hardworking day. And that was true enough, except for the day part. It'd been more like a week. Or two.

He still wasn't certain if his efforts on the town lines would hold, but he couldn't waste anymore energy on creating defenses against any curious wanderers. This morning some lady was screeching on the street so loudly about losing her phone, Inoue heard it locked down in his basement! If his work was distracting and sapping him that much, that his tenants were figuratively falling apart at the seams… He would just have to try something else.

And in the meantime, he just had to wait for everyone to get a hold of themselves. Or ignore them, as the case may be. The occasional weeping and howling made nice dinner music, really. As long as they didn't screech.

windupgadget

She didn't mean to cause trouble - honestly.

But that didn't faze the fact she was standing in the middle of a decimated aisle, boxes of pastas scattered and squashed across the floor, alongside a couple groaning, rising shoppers. Or a cart had toppled over behind her, blocking her way out. Not that she was trying to escape, but the victims of this mess didn't even look at her when she tried to help them up, and just stood there, looking as confused as ever. Better yet, she could hear the tell-tale sounds of crashes in other parts of the store, making her flinch and duck passed the pair, making a break for it around the corner.

All she wanted was to pick up a few things she usually missed!

blackshadow

Part I:

On average, Etienne's weekends were boring. They mainly consisted of wandering aimlessly through the commercial district and not much else. After all, there wasn't much to do, and his little trip usually didn't involve any actual shopping.

At the same time, it was rare for him to actually miss a preorder for a game, but that's just what he realized happened as he came up to his favorite game shop to see the brightly colored ForStar 2 poster hanging in the window with a sticker already over it declaring "ON SALE NOW MM/DD!!"

How could he have missed this?! Sure, it was mostly a guilty pleasure game (who would admit to playing a high school romance dating sim?), but sometimes those guilty pleasures are important. This is one of those times. It didn't take any more than a second after seeing the promotional poster for him to casually enter the shop and start poking around for the new release.

Part II:

There wasn't a reason, as far as he knew, for him quitting his usual adventure through the commercial district and turning around to walk along the streets of the residential district. Maybe it was just curiosity. No matter how many houses he passed, all the cars that sped by him always turned down one of the streets ahead of him no matter how long the road stretched forward.

When he thought about it, he didn't even know what there was if he kept walking towards the outskirts of town. Did the road turn into a route and a highway eventually? Shouldn't he know that name if it did? Maybe there was someone that actually lived at the end of the road.

He swung his shopping bag idly as he walked along the sidewalk, eyes fixed on the horizon.

[ ooc: Feel free to respond to either part! You can also use this post for any random mingling you want to do. I don't mind! ]

cloudypuddle

Things were falling apart - she didn't like it.

Nanase had a very set pattern to her days, for a very specific reason, and yet the last few it had collapsed in on itself. She still made it to class, to swim meet, to bed at the same time, but the bits in between didn't come naturally to her, like her feet had forgotten where to go. It had led to more than a couple run-ins with her folks, when she'd normally sidestep the chance by habit. She was thrown so off, she'd actually headed home today when her teammates did, and the blank stare her mother shot her in the kitchen was as oddly jarring as taking the time to dry her hair, or going through her closet and pulling out an old sweater and pants to replace her uniform.

The material felt fresh, never worn as she slipped back onto the street, and she pulled roughly at the stiff sleeves as she stomped through the snow still on the ground. She remained uncertain where to go, but her street eventually circled back around, passing near every house in town. Surely there wouldn't be many out in the middle of dinner time, or on the outskirts of town. And even if... What's so jarring about a girl taking an uncharacteristic walk around the neighborhood?

grandvision

Russ leaned back in his seat and took a long sip of his coffee, but it did nothing to stifle his yawn. Ah, the exciting life of a newspaper reporter -- just sitting around, waiting for his interview subject to arrive. He tapped his fingers idly on the table and whiled away the time by listening to the conversations around him.

Maybe he'd catch something interesting.

blackshadow

When Etienne woke up to the wind beating snow against his window so hard he thought it'd break through the glass, he should have stayed in. He wasn't sure what compelled him to just toss on a coat, wrap himself in a scarf, and put on a hat and head out like it was a normal day.

—He couldn't believe how much snow he let in through the front door just in the time between opening it and fighting it closed. This was ridiculous... He didn't bother to notice the clear skies over head; it was bright, but between having his head huddled into his coat and his eyes squinting to keep the snow and wind out, he didn't notice anything that wasn't directly in front of him.

Not that it stopped him from getting slapped in the face with a tattered, colorful rag that he should have seen flying at him.

negativegate

Within the business circuit of the city, there was an Asian-fusion café known as the Lily Garden. The rather unique butler and maid outfits never seemed out of place to the patrons who frequented the café nor to the employees themselves.

The café did have another aspect to draw in customers, even though the patronage never seemed to change. It was a special deal with the neighbouring bakery which allowed the café to serve an exclusive dessert.

Today's promotion: white chocolate strawberry millefeuille, which was being advertised on a stand outside.

devilishdeals

A bell rang as the B-Z Model Shop's door opened, announcing the departure of its owner. Inoue Yori stepped into the fading light of sunset still wiping his hands on his untied apron, but his eyes were already shifting across the row of shops surrounding his. The sharp gaze turned satisfied, pleased at the sight of people milling about the street and store fronts, as if it weren't something he'd come across everyday. As if it were something besides the random passage of neighbors and fellow town folk.

Done wiping his hands, Inoue tossed the apron onto a counter and grabbed a tan satchel from it. Locking the front door – the OPEN sign still displayed in the window, with strange, fuzzy text handwritten in below it – he turned the key with hands still covered with already dried bits of glossy paint. This wasn't an odd sight in and of itself, given his work often marked him by the end of the day. Usually he'd take the time to better wash away the stains before taking to the street...

But today was special. Today, he was ready to stand back and consider what he had built.

His shop corner was just across from the central road, leading him into the center of town and the park at the heart of it, the people passing by increasing as he neared the grassy expanse of perfectly symmetrical lines of trees and flowers. Any of the benches the cobbled cross-point of four dirt paths would the perfect spot to stop. And so he did, pulling a leather roll of tolls and smooth bit of wood from his bag as he considered the area.

The fountain – a marble pyramid in the center trickling water down between the “bricks” – blocked a bit his view, but it was still the best spot to catch sight of as many residents as possible, prone as they were to come by on the way home from work or school, or linger to meet friends or relax on their own. At some point or another, for just a moment, everyone would come by. Everyone would cross paths.

He had designed them that way.

And with any luck, he would spot no fault in his model.

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Asphodel

Entries tagged with open post

[Event-Trigger/Mingle] Sunday Afternoon, Central Park

[Mingle] Sunday Night, Asphodel Bar

[Event Trigger/Mingle] All current features are tear jerkers

[Open] Evening, Grocery Store

[Open/Mingle] Sunday, midday

[Open Post] Evening, Residential Area

[Open/Mingle] Morning at the coffee shop

[Open] Rain or shine or killer hail...

[Open/Mingle mingle] Late Monday Afternoon: Café

[Open/Mingle Post] Afternoon, Center Park

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