Fireworks

[Oren]

Today was a special day. It was the fourth of July. That meant setting off large amounts of gunpowder into the sky and watching it burst into color with a large bang. Gunner would have fun, Shoutoku was sure, and he could understand why even though he didn't quite share the same enthusiasm. Most fireworks came to the same ending. No matter how high they went or how large they were, most ended with the same color or display. After a few years years they became boring.

This year, though, was different. He couldn't quite place why he was so excited, but he figured it had something to do with the locket he had with him. After not being able to find the one Aeon had lost, he had taken it upon himself to buy her a new one. He was even more nervous because it was a birthday present. In an attempt to try to find a good time to give her the locket, he had re-looked up all of her information from the school databases. In other words, she didn't know that he knew it was her birthday.

He smiled to himself as he jogged back to his dorm to grab the rest of the fireworks and a zippo lighter. Being a griffin, he didn't quite like the idea of fire. When he saw fire he typically thought of burning books, and that would put him in a foul mood for a few hours. Tonight, though, he was determined to stay up-beat. It wasn't as hard as he had first believed it would be. Again, he blamed it on the necklace.

Reaching the place he had chosen to 'set up shop', he put the four bags of fireworks next to the wooden platform he had brought down the trip before. Almost ready... what was missing? After looking around, he smiled to himself. The only thing missing was Gunner, but not for long.

[Anzeh]

Aeon Gunner

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The girl had been rather interested to find that she had been summoned to the Stone Garden that night. No one really knew it was her special day today. She'd never told anyone, not that she really had any friends to tell. Heck, for all Soga had done for her, she'd never even told him her birthday. At the same time though, it seemed that he knew an awful lot of stuff about her that she never told him, so it wouldn't surprise her if he knew.

Hunting for her locket had ended up in total failure. In fact, for the past few days she'd been more upset about losing the locket than she had been about the act of horror that had caused her to lose it in the first place. Riley had given it to her, as a memento five years ago today and she had lost it. Of course, she could imagine the dopey look on his face if he knew, the "don't sweat it" happy grin he'd wear... but that only made her miss it more.

At the designated time Gunner made her way over to the Stone Garden, picking her way through the large garden of aromatic blooms before chancing upon her Griffin friend doing something involving a wood platform and fireworks. Oh goodness, this could not be good. Soga + fireworks? They were all doomed.

The unicorn chuckled softly at the idea, for once not wearing her typical jacket or hoodie over her clothes. It was too hot, being July and all. Ever since she was small, she would look up on the fourth of July and smile, thinking that the entire country knew her birthday and were making light displays just for her. It made her sad to learn that the fireworks were for the country's birthday, not for hers, but the country couldn't appreciated it since it was inanimate, so every year she would enjoy it for them both.

"Oh? What goes on here?" she asked, arms crossed over a baggy t-shirt and and baggy shorts. "Don't tell my you're setting off fireworks for Independence Day too." There was a hint of disappointment in her voice. Perhaps he really didn't know today was her birthday. Was it possible that no one knew what today was?

[Oren]

His head turned to the sound of Gunner's voice, his lips automatically curling into a smile. it was obvious he was happy she had come. Maybe a little too happy but she'd probably blame it on the fireworks he had been messing with. After befriending him and getting to know a side of him other than his school mode, many would assume that other than being a fighter he was also a pyro-maniac. Too bad it wasn't so. He had seen other creature's fascination with the energy, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't learn to love it.

"Fireworks?" he asked, his voice carrying a hint of sarcasm. "What idiot would shoot large amounts of burning gunpowder into the air? Not me, surely!" turning to the blanket laying on the grass, he waved for her to come sit while he began setting out food. As he knelt by the small ice chest and picnic basket, he mumbled to himself, "And who said they were for Independence Day? I hate America..."

It was an odd thing for him to say considering he had lived in the states for a very long time. When he had first moved to the school from Japan he had the assumption that he would grow to love the strong nation, but even now he felt next to no loyalty to the place. The school, on the other hand, he would protect with his life. Too bad for the U.S.A. that his loyalties stretched no further.

Pulling out a few things, he said, "I wasn't sure what all you could eat or what you like so I brought a few things. I'll just let you look through it and see what you want. Oh! There are a few granola bars. I would bet quite a bit on you liking these." He tossed one to her and then held up an apple. "And this too. I think I have..." He looked in the ice chest, "Three, and some other things."

He smiled at here, taking a seat next to her. Now, what to do? It wasn't quite dark, so they couldn't set off the fireworks yet. They'd just have to think of something...

[Anzeh]

Aeon Gunner

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Gunner walked into the garden as he waved her over and began setting out food. She had half expected something unskinned, dead, and somewhat limp animal to be placed on the blanket to bleed profusely from some unknown source, so was relieved when he tossed a granola bar and a shiny red apple at her.

Her attention was grabbed when he stated he didn't like America. Vaguely she wondered why he continued living in America if he didn't like it. In truth the unicorn didn't like it too much here either, but unlike Soga she didn't really have a choice of whether or not she wanted to live here. He could move, after all, he was old enough, not to mention he had wings. Gunner never came to America of her own volition, not to mention even if she had she wouldn't be able to go back anyway since her home, the home in her heart, was a ship that sailed the ocean's unpredictable currents.

Biting into the granola bar, she chewed it thoughtfully, wondering if it would make her sick. One of her less-than-fond memories of america was that everything that wasn't made naturally, anything that she didn't pick with her own two hands, the chemicals they shoved into them to make them bigger and more prosperous made her violently sick.

But she was happy when nothing seemed to happen and bit into the apple. "Are you saying that you know today is my birthday then?" She asked cautiously. She was completely ready to get up and leave if he acted all surprised even if it was just an act. It wouldn't be funny. She hated when people did that, so of course she hated a lot of surprise parties.

[Oren]

Looking up at the sky, he smiled when she asked him if he knew it was her birthday. Of course he knew. Though, it was all thanks to her lost necklace. If he hadn't been prying around, he wouldn't have found out and would have missed it. A part of him was happy they hadn't found the necklace, but he knew how much it had meant to her so he didn't allow himself the pleasure of allowing his joy to consume him. Even if it hadn't meant that much to her he wouldn't allow his joy to consume him. That was always a bad thing, letting one's feelings take over.

He sighed in contentment and, his eyes still skyward, said, "Of course. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't know?"

Leaning back with his hands behind his head and one leg crossed over the other, he looked at her. "You look nice, by the way. Cute but not too cute, ya know? Just perfect, in my opinion." He paused. Was that a little too... much? Too late to take it back now. “So, Aeon, what brought you to Professor Crane’s little chess board to begin with?”

The unicorn might not know it yet, but this school was indeed Crane’s personal playing field. He had ultimate control and if you can do something it is because he didn’t care enough to stop you. That chimera mostly let people do as they wish, but there were instances where he drew the line. Those were far apart and few in the counting, but still. The things Crane put the students through was insane, that was, if it really was Crane instigating. If one really thought about it, it was still Crane’s fault because he never did anything to stop the chaos. Except for this new police force that was in the making…

His eyes stayed fixed on Gunner listening patiently to her as she explained. He vaguely wondered what subject they would go to next, but did it really matter?

[Anzeh]

Aeon Gunner

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The unicorn watched him closely for several minutes, awaiting the answer to her birthday question. There was a reason behind her scrutiny of his features as he answered, mostly because she was trying to discern whether he was lying or not. After watching him for a little while and finding that he did know it was her birthday and wasn't lying about it, in fact he joked, saying what kind of friend would he be if he didn't know. A smile crept onto her features. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." she said, taking another bite of her apple and chewing on it. It tasted better now, sweeter, juicier, knowing the reason she was here.

And the reason the fireworks were here.

Gunner could hazard a guess as to where he'd found out about her birthday--no doubt the same place he found out everything else about her, like what language she was taking and how long she'd been at the school, but where had he learned that she liked fireworks? She wondered... in honestly, she had no fascination with fire or anything, but truly enjoyed the light displays of fireworks.

She'd taken another bite of the apple and instantly regretted it as she began to cough. She paused long enough to pull the bit of apple out of her mouth when she returned to coughing, but it wasn't the awkward, 'oh my goodness did you really just say that?' coughs, these were the coughs that resulted in laughing while eating something, and this became obvious once she removed the apple chunk from her mouth. "Uh, thanks?" she said with a grin on her face. "You don't look half bad yourself." Upon saying this she popped the bit of apple back into her mouth and chewed, swallowing it.

A fleeting look of wonder crossed her face when he asked what had brought her to, what he called, Crane's Chessboard. It took her a moment to understand what he meant by that, but she smiled when understanding came to her. "I had gotten separated from my family," she said, having eaten the apple to its core. She wasn't referring to the group of unicorns she'd been born into, but the pirate ship she'd lived on for nearly 3 years. "When I found my way back to the docks a few days later, they were gone. So I wandered around a bit, nearly got myself killed more times than I can count..." She rummaged for a carrot and bit that. "And eventually found my way here to others like..." She trailed off, eyebrows furrowed for a moment in thought, turning to him and pointing the carrot at him in an accusing way.

"You called me Aeon!"

A triumphant smile went onto her face as she plopped back down, chewing the carrot thoughtfully. After a few moments she said, seemingly out of nowhere, "There's nothing for you to eat in there. This isn't going to be a repeat of what happened in the dining hall, is it?" She had lain back on the blanket to look into the darkening sky. She could see stars, but not nearly as many as she could see in the boat or on the island where she lived amongst others like her, her blood relatives.

[Oren]

Although he wasn’t looking at her, he could hear the satisfaction in her voice and the way her mood changed, although only slightly. She really was an adorable girl. He just hoped she wouldn’t hold it against him like she had the time before. At least she wasn’t asleep, he thought, chuckling to himself.

When she started to choke he sat up, about to ask if she was alright when she pried the bite out of her mouth and was laughing. His worry replaced by relief, he let his smile slip back into place as he lay back down on the blanket. “You are most welcome,” he told her, his smile widening as she said he wasn’t too bad himself. “In other words I look over half good,” he teased. He knew he wasn’t too good-looking and wasn’t very attractive so there was no way she could say he looked really good and actually mean it. Though, saying he didn’t look half bad was quite a good compliment any way, and it wasn’t like he had told her she was beautiful. That would have been way overboard, and even what he had said was a little much.

When she spoke of her family and then the docks, he realized that she was speaking of her real family. Besides, didn’t she only have a father that hated her? She still seemed to love him, but that was a different story. Not to mention one he was sure she didn’t wish to talk about it, not on her birthday at least.

Then, midsentence, she stopped, turned toward him and pointed the carrot at him accusingly. “Hm?” he asked at her accusation, clasping her hand in his and taking a bite out of the carrot before letting go. Making a disgusted face, he took it out of his mouth and throwing it as far as he could. Looking back at her, he tilted his head to one said and said, “If I’m not mistaken, and I’m pretty sure I’m not, that is your name.” He was obviously flirting. What wasn’t obvious was why he had taken a bite out of the carrot. Mainly, it was to stop himself from blushing. Being Japanese, using the first name of someone from the opposite gender meant that you were close to them. Her pointing it out was slightly embarrassing.

“Oh, I ate earlier,” He told her when she asked. “Unlike most creatures, I only need two small meals or one large meal during the day to keep me satisfied. Plus, I hadn’t been out hunting in a while and got a little carried away. You, on the other hand, are almost synonymous to a horse. Your species is meant to graze all day long, munching on things for most of the day. Besides, what’s a party without a snack for the guest of honor?”

He propped himself on his elbows and let his head droop back. “And I figured we wouldn’t be sparing since today should be a peaceful day. Well, as peaceful as you get,” he joked. He looked at the sky as well and, looking at the north star, wished that she was having as good a time as he was.

[Anzeh]

Aeon Gunner

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Gunner rolled her eyes at him and flopped back on the blanket, turning to look at him and then the fireworks podium. Even though she had just finished her apple she wanted something more. So she began to nibble on the carrot when she pointed it at him and her hand was grabbed.

Instinct 1: Pull hand away and stab mercilessly with carrot.

Instinct 2: Let him do whatever he was going to do.

Although the pull of instinct 1 was very strong, she managed to ignore it until he took a bite, made a face, and threw it as far as he could manage. She stared at where it had been right before it left her line of vision for several moments before looking at Soga and pouted. "A bite wasted." She said, going back to the remainder of her carrot, soon finishing it and reaching in again, pulling out another granola bar.

"True!" she said, this time pointing the granola bar, still in its wrapper, at him. She seemed to have an affinity for pointing food at people currently, but at least this time she had made sure it was still in its wrapper so he wouldn't bite it and then throw it away. Did he have any idea how much energy was in that bite of carrot?

He probably did.

"But!" She continued, unwrapping the bar. "You didn't start calling me Aeon until recently. I think you started the morning after I stayed with you. I remember you called me Gunner before you did CPR." She bit into the bar, not paying any attention to the fact that essentially she hadn't stopped eating since she sat down.

Then the comment comparing their species and she froze mid-bite, play glaring at him. "Oh, so I'm fat now huh?" She managed to tear up and sniffle, but eventually her straight face broke and she returned to eating. He commented about her violent nature, which she simply ignored.

Mostly.

"Oh please, like you're peaceful."

[Oren]

Smiling at her pouting, he said, “I’m sure the bacteria will appreciate it.” He was being sarcastic, of course, but it was true nonetheless. If something macroscopic didn’t eat it first, the microorganisms would get a hold of it. In fact, they already did, but that was beside the point. The fact was that it wasn’t a bite wasted and therefore he didn’t feel bad about taking a part of her carrot. “Besides,” He continued, “I’ve never tried a carrot by itself. I was curious.”

Taking a deep breath, he held it for a moment before exhaling. Swinging himself into a sitting position, he looked at her and said, “Time for the fireworks?” Without waiting for a answer, as it was a rhetorical question, he stood up and walked over to the small platform and reached inside one of the bags beside it. ”These are kind of cool…” he mumbled inaudibly. He was only vaguely aware of what she was saying as he looked around for a place to light the Flowers. Seeing a large slab that was probably large enough, he motioned for her to follow.

”Ya, probably…” he mused. As he set the fireworks down he continued. “I’ve never done something like that before… I suppose it had more of an effect than I thought?” The last part was more of a question. She was probably right, but he highly doubted she realized what him calling her ‘Aeon’ meant to him. He wasn’t quite sure how he’d picked it up so nonchalantly, but he assumed it was just living in America for so long that the culture really had rubbed off on him more than he had first thought.

“No, no, you’re not fat!” he hurriedly corrected her. “I was just saying that, while I eat a lot at once, and only once, you constantly much. In the end we probably eat about the same. And there’s the fact that we’re different species, and that would…” His voice trailed off. “You weren’t really serious...” Letting his head drop back to face the sky, he sighed. “I really need better people skills.”

”Oh well,” he chuckled as he knelt down and lit the small fuse to the two-inch, pink cylinder. Taking a few steps back, he watched as it started to spin, emitting light and smoke and making a buzzing sound as it bounced along the ground, slowly changing from pink to green to blue. When it ended, he stepped forward to light another one. “And in actuality, I was very peaceful before I met you. I might know how to fight, and well, but I don’t use it that often, only to keep up with what I know. You’d be surprised how hard it is to find a silent sparring partner!”

[Anzeh]

Aeon Gunner

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A huge grin spread across her face as he took the bait she'd set out for him. Call it an experiment--or call it cruel because surely it was both--that she had said something that any male with intent to have any sort of relation with a girl, be it family, friendship, or something more, no man, no matter how socially stupid, would stumble over themselves to rectify accidentally calling a girl fat. And it was with this grin in place that she nodded to confirm what he'd thought: she wasn't serious.

"Oh hush." She said, her attention grabbed by the buzzing, spinning, light-changing creation on their podium. It didn't help too much that the sky was beginning to darken and other people would begin to fire off fireworks pretty soon. That would only be a matter of time. But for now since the skies were quiet, she watched the buzzing top dance around and do its cute little light display, and then the other.

The unicorn watched as they went through his bag of light and finally laid down on the blanket to watch to the fireworks of others, setting them off with a patriotic sense of pride for the soil which she lay upon. It was the nations birthday, wasn't it? That's why they set these things off?

She sighed softly as the last firework was fired, scratching her head. Ah... lights... weren't they pretty?

"Thanks." she said. It was the first time she'd ever really celebrated her birthday since she came to this country.

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[Oren]

The growing sensation in his gut clung to the back of his mind, an almost giddiness that wouldn’t leave him be. He wanted to say that it was because of the fireworks, or because of the night sky, but he knew that it was the girl beside him. She was the cause for the butterflies in his stomach, he knew. He wasn’t quite sure how he knew but he did know that when he was with her or when he thought of her he got the same feeling.

Shoutoku had read books, of course, but he’d never experienced this thing people called “love”. In fact, he wasn’t quite sure if it was love. Maybe it was more of a physical… no, one look at her would say it wasn’t quite the physical side of her that drew him in. She was quite pretty in his eyes, but that wasn’t it. He’d seen many girls he found easy on the eyes, but none gave him that weird feeling that Gunner did.

Once the fireworks he had brought were spent, they laid on the blanket to watch other’s displays. It was odd, though, that no matter how beautiful the light was he couldn’t help but watch the impressions of smoke left by previous explosives. They all became a jumbled mess in the end...

As they watched he took her hand lightly, whispering, “You actually look very pretty tonight.” He looked at her with a small smile that was barely noticeable in the dark. She was young but she was beautiful. Just the way her hair was laying and how the fireworks lit up her eyes… it was almost as if…

Without thinking, he slowly reached over to brush a lone strand of hair from her face. He hesitated, his hand still by her face. Before he could consider the repercussions of his actions, he leaned over and lightly pressed his lips to hers. He pulled back and realized what he had done, gasping and jerking back. Crap. What had he just done…

“Um… s-sorry… I… uh…” He stuttered. What was there to say? He’d just kissed her! Wait, the locket! He had to give her to locket! Digging the small box out of his pocket he held it out. “Happy Birthday.”

[Anzeh]

Aeon Gunner

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The female was laying on her back, her having pulled her hair out of its ponytail to be more comfortable on the blanket. Beside her was the now empty basket that had once held snacks, and on her other side was her friend Soga. Gunner had never really thought of him to be anything more than a friend despite his creepiness and his help. Those were acts of true friendship, were they not?

As much as it pained her to think about it, unlike Soga the unicorn wasn't a stranger to love. She had indeed loved someone before--at first like a brother and then like a lover though he never returned her feelings--and it had hurt her a little but she liked to think it made her stronger now. A flash of bright blue exploded in the sky, filling her eyes to the brim with color and for a fleeting moment giving her blue streaks in her hair which had become a wave of tendrils behind her.

The unicorn took the male's hand, smiling softly as another burst, this one of purple and from another location, lit up their blanket. "Thank you." She said. "You look rather handsome yourself."

She glanced as one went up and exploded into a representation of Chimmy, followed quickly by the american flag. Aeon looked back and found that he'd moved closer, and his hand was keeping a strand of hair in check.

Their lips met, and a booming firework went off in the background, lighting the sky red. Shoutoku had backed away, but the unicorn remained sitting, one hand on her lips. That was probably Soga's first kiss, but not hers... yet still it gave her such an odd feeling...

But even so Aeon took the box and opened it, looked at it for a few moments and covered her mouth again, this time because she'd begun to cry. Obviously she knew that this was not her lost locket, since there were a few differences between this one and her other one. She would forever miss that locket, since there was a picture of her crush from many years ago inside.

She opened it and was not surprised there was nothing in it. Words failed her, from the kiss and the gift. Her eyes locked onto Soga and she moved over to him, wrapping her arms around him and hugging the griffin. Gunner had done this while he was four legged and equiped with wings, but not when he was human.

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[Oren]

Shoutoku turned to her to apologize once more but the tears running down her cheeks stopped him. She was… crying? That… didn’t make sense. Why was she crying? But… wait. With her hand no longer covering her face, he almost thought he saw her smiling. As a firework went off and lit the sky he could see that she was indeed smiling. She was crying tears of joy? He wasn’t sure he completely understood but it caused him to sigh in relief. Everything was okay.

She looked up at him just as light blared all around them again. He felt his chest tighten as she came over to him and hugged him. Wait, she was… hugging him? That was… new. It wasn’t a bad new, it was definitely a good new, but he was unsure. He knew he should hug her back, but was it alright? She was fourteen, after all.

Throwing caution to the wind he hugged her as well, allowing himself to enjoy the moment for what it was. He liked her and as far as he could tell she felt the same. As of the right here and right now, he was willing to believe that and act upon it. Aka, he was alright with what was happening. In fact, he was quite happy about it. Now if only this dream could continue for more than this one night…