Date Part Two: Festival Fun

Xia was in heaven, kind of literally, as she walked with Azzie through the gates of the Heavenly Emporium. This was their first official date, sort of. They’d started in Konoha and now they had a whole festival to explore together. Azzie really was pulling out all the stops for this. Xia still had no idea that his original plan was for them to go to the arcade, and that she had totally hijacked their adventure with her misunderstanding.

She was so happy that she bounced a little as she walked, her eyes lighting up like fireworks every time she glanced towards the tall white haired man. As they first walked in there were so many sights to behold she could barely take them all in. Dancers and street vendors, carts of food and people singing. . . it was marvelous. There were also stalls set up for games and Xia was drawn to one stall in particular. The stall had several small tables with chairs set up outside it and as she looked on she recognized what she was looking at; Katanuki. A simple game with sugar paper with designs printed on them, everyone who purchased one was given a small cutting tool to carefully cut out the shape, and if they cut it out perfectly they won some ryo. It was almost impossible to cut out the more complicated ones, but it didn’t matter since the point was to sit with someone and talk while sharing the activity. And as a bonus you got to eat the candy after. With glee she would head over to the stall, hopefully with Azzie still in tow and point excitedly. “Would you like to try this with me?”

Now that Azzie looked around, it was clear to see that this was not the Konohagakure no Sato that he was used to. People had mentioned that the village was fairly large, and hidden, to Azzie, so perhaps this was another hidden part of the village that Azzie did not know about until today. Maybe there was an arcade here that they could go to… he did not even remember where the arcade was that he had been told about.

Azzie would smile everytime Xia looked up at him. It was nice to know someone that he could hang out with in the village that was not one of Tengoku’s wolves. While he did enjoy spending time with the wolves, all they did was smell, howl and eat. Azzie was fine with that but having someone to talk with was nice as well. Azzie took a quick smell of their surroundings, and the aroma of food was what overloaded his olfactory system. He noted that there were people crowding around tables, having fun and shouting. Maybe this was the arcade. An outside arcade! Azzie did not know that Konohagakure no Sato had an outdoor arcade! Xia seemed to want to go to the arcade, so he followed her. His head would tilt curiously at the game before them, as he was completely lost as to what to do. “Sure! But… I’ve never really seen the game before. Or any game really…” His last three words were followed by a light laugh and Azzie scratching the back of his neck. It seemed like he had a lot to learn still.

Xia grinned up at Azzie as he scratched the back of his neck, he really was cute. She was surprised when he said he’d never played any games, she couldn’t fathom not having time to play games. Although, in her own training regime growing up, she’d had to sneak out to go enjoy a game or two. . . so maybe it did make sense after all. Azzie was certainly better trained than she was, so it seemed he’d had less time than even her. “That’s okay, I’ve never done it either, so we can both learn together!” Spotting an empty table near the stall she would gently tug Azzie’s hand as she attempted to lead him to sit down. Assuming that was successful she would plop herself down in a chair on one side of the small table and gesture to the seat opposite her, waiting patiently until Azzie followed suit.

While they were (or were not) getting seated, a masked attendant came walking over to the pair with a large shallow tray filled with all sorts of masks. “Welcome to the Heavenly Emporium! Please take a mask and share in the festivities.” The androgynous person with a wolf shaped mask spoke pleasantly and held out the tray towards Xia and Azzie as they spoke. Xia looked excited, she always looked excited, and she would look down at the assorted masks that lay on the tray, gently rummaging through them until she found one that spoke to her. A black shinobi style mask that covered the lower half of her face, with white paint that was drawn to look like an oni. “Ooooh this one’s pretty! It reminds me of my paintings! Thank you so much, mysterious wolf person!”

Xia hadn’t thought about what picking a mask like this would entail, namely that eating or drinking would become nigh impossible, but she was too excited so she slipped the mask on and all that was left of her face was the mischievous twinkle in her pale eyes. Her voice was slightly muffled now, but that didn’t stop her from talking. “What one are you going to pick Azzie? If you want to wear one that is. Oh! And now that we’re going to have masks, do we get to pick code names or something?” It was a ridiculous thought, but it was also from a ridiculous woman. Xia didn’t feel the need to disguise that she was quirky or weird, which was most times off putting for the people she spoke with, but with Azzie she felt totally comfortable since he didn’t judge her at all.

The gentle tug of his hand had Azzie’s body falling, he was much like a feather right now, just going where the wind took him and currently, the wind was Xia’s guiding hand. It wasn’t like Azzie would leave Xia alone, but it certainly helped him navigate to the seat where Xia and he would play this game. He never recalled hearing about an outdoor arcade, so this was certainly fascinating. He knew arcades had games, and apparently, he and Xia were going to play one too! “I didn’t even know they had outdoor arcades! All I remember reading about where the ones inside.” A grin was plastered on Azzie’s face as he looked around, sitting down clumsily in the seat across from Xia as his attention was anywhere and everywhere.

As Azzie would, eventually, right himself in his seat, they were approached by a person in a wolf mask. The individual would hold out a tray towards them, asking them to take a mask. As Xia rummaged through the tray of masks, Azzie would grab the first one he saw and immediately put it on; covering the entirety of his face. The mask darkened his vision a bit, but he could still see through the mesh opening. “Are we allowed to make masks? I can make weapons! Maybe, one day, I can make a mask too! Thank you!” Azzie’s mind immediately went to the questions he could ask rather than thanking the person, but he did eventually get to that as well.

Clearly, Azzie’s mask was not suited for eating or drinking, unless he had a straw. As he saw Xia put on her mask and post the question of nicknames, he would ponder by tapping his index finger where his chin would be, instead his finger would hit the mask’s chin. “Hmm… definitely would pick a code name! I don’t know what I would pick though. Oh, maybe I could be Estival, because we’re at a festival!”

Xia was a little confused by the ‘outdoor arcade’ statement. Although she could see how this was similar to an arcade, so she smiled and spoke shyly. “Maybe we could go to the indoor arcade one day. If you want.” She didn’t realize that that had been the original plan, and so she asked for a second date without realizing the irony of it. She could see that Azzie was plenty excited, just like she was and just like him her attention was everywhere as well.

When the staff member came by with a tray of masks, she had chosen hers and put it on. Hilariously, Azzie had ended up choosing a mask that also impeded his ability to eat or drink and so the both of them would have to probably remove them in order to consume any of the refreshments that were being offered everywhere. “You make weapons? That’s amazing! Could I watch you make some, sometime?” She was genuinely curious, she used weapons herself but had never put much thought into how they were made.

When she mentioned picking code names she giggled as Azzie tapped the chin of his mask, instead of his actual chin. She liked the name he chose, it was cute, just like him. She nodded happily. “Estival it is, that’s a brilliant name. What should I choose? Hmm. . .” She ended up tapping her own mask as well as she thought about a name, and then eventually she came up with the obvious answer. “Well, if you’re Estival because we’re at a Festival, I guess I should be Heaven because we’re at the Heavenly Emporium!”

“I did want to go to an indoor arcade today, but this outdoor one is fun too!” Well, they had not done much so far, but Azzie was sure this arcade would be fun. He had not been to an indoor one, but everything he had read about them made them seem like a fun place to go. “We can go to one one day! Today we can enjoy the outdoor arcade!” Azzie was excitable at the moment, his eyes filled with wonder as he looked everywhere around them.

“Yeap! I do make weapons. I also was thinking about opening up a shop, so I can sell the weapons and other things I make. If you want to watch, you are more than welcome… though it might be a bit boring.” Azzie wasn’t sure if other people enjoyed people forging weapons. Azzie hoped, he could, eventually, make things that Xia would like. Maybe like a trinket or something. Or a weapon if she liked weapons. “I could make you a weapon if you like… though I’m not really good at it right now. But soon I should be! At least, that’s what I’ve heard. Practice makes… practice? No, that wasn’t it. Practice make… part…. perfect!” Azzie would eventually recall what the saying was and hoped it worked for him.

As Xia decided on her code name, Azzie would nod, his mask exaggerating the movement of his head. “Estival and Heaven it is! So… what do we do now Heaven?” His eyes would look to the Katanuki at the table. This was something he had never seen or heard of before, so Azzie was at a complete loss as to what to do.

Xia felt a little bad when she heard Azzie say he had wanted to go to an indoor arcade, and she realized that she had probably railroaded him into coming here, and he had gone along with it to be nice. It made her feel bad for only a second though when she realized that if that was what had happened then he had chosen to go along with what she’d wanted. ‘Which means. . . he likes me too?’ Xia wasn’t certain, but maybe it meant that Azzie actually liked her and she was excited enough at the idea that she put all other worrisome thoughts out of her mind.

When she asked Azzie about making weapons she was delighted when he mentioned he might open up a shop and that he was offering to not only let her watch, but also make her something. She felt like she might actually explode with excitement at the idea and she nodded her head emphatically, a giant grin on her face that (with her mask covering her mouth) would only show through the sparkle in her eyes. “I would love to watch you work, Azzie! And as far as making me something, anything you make would be perfect in my eyes. I’m sure you’re brilliant at it. But I wasn’t trying to. . . you know, I wasn’t trying to hint at it or anything. I’m just, I’m really interested in you and uh, everything that you do.” She would blush fiercely as she was more honest than she had been so far with Azzie about her feelings for him.

Fortunately they moved on to the subject of code names, and to her delight he liked her suggestion and adopted the code name idea without any fuss. It was one of the things she adored about him, no matter what crazy thing she did or came up with, he never made her feel stupid for any of it. “Hmm. I suppose, Agent Estival, that we should do our best to decode the message that was undoubtedly left in this drawing. . . oh! And then we should search for other clues that might have been left for us!” She grinned again and gestured towards the sugar paper, and pushed it towards him, scooting around the table so that they could properly work on it side by side.

“Oh? Making weapons so far has certainly been interesting, so I can see why you would also be interested in watching me make some!” Azzie would nod emphatically following his words after Xia had explicitly stated she was interested in him and the things he does. It only made sense that she was interested in how he made his weapons, even if he wasn’t too great at it at the current time. He would certainly welcome Xia to watch when she wanted, even if watching was infinitely more boring than actually forging the weapons.

When Agent Heaven informed him that they should do their best to decode a message that was left in their drawing, Azzie would turn his eyes to stare at the sugar paper laid before him. Azzie would inch his face closer to the material, taking a sniff to see if the smell would give him a clue. “There’s a message in the drawing? Azzie would voice out his question, not really expecting an answer. “How do we decode these exactly? I didn’t get any clues from smelling it.” He would ask Xia while keeping his eyes hyper focused on the sugar paper and continually inching closer to it. He would follow Xia’s lead when it came to decoding this message and any further clues they would deal with today.

[exit thread]

Azzie hadn’t specifically said ‘yes’ to her request to watch him work. But he also hadn’t specifically said ‘no’ either. So that was a win in her books. Probably once they were back in Konoha it would make more sense to ask him again. She made a mental note to find out where Azzie’s shop was so that she could go visit him there. She thought that he might even appreciate some custom paintings for the shop, maybe a sign or the outside walls. Something to give it more. . . what was her mother always saying? Oh right, curb appeal.

When Xia mentioned decoding a message, Azzie said that he didn’t get any clues from smelling it. Xia just smiled and tapped the side of her nose once, in a faux conspiratorial fashion. “That’s because the message is decoded by eating it, Agent Estival!” She would then show him how to ‘decode’ the hidden message, which included eating the entire piece of sugared rice paper. Then she would lead them on a merry chase for a few hours around the Festival, finding more clues and messages (which were almost entirely hidden in food).

[Exit Thread]