Enter the Mascot
hinata Guest
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Post by hinata on Aug 31, 2009 9:47:14 GMT -6
"Kuma-san! Kuma-san!"
Among the many stands the calls of children could be heard above the ruckus. They were calling the attention of a tall mascot character that was mingling among them. The teddy-bear costume was very well made, and the aura of friendliness had drawn in many fans old and young alike. And this wasn't just one of those mascots that walked around handing out balloons either. Nope, this bear actually played with the kids, did gymnastic feats, pantomimed popular stories, posed for photos and even had a song and dance routine (though no one had ever heard the song before... it sounded made up on the spot).
Two of the teachers were watching over the outdoor booths and one shook her head and turned to the other, pointing out the bear.
"Is she going to keep at it all day?" she asked. The bear-suited person was now playing hide-and-seek with the kids, comically placing one hand across her brow to show that she was really searching hard as she looked for them high and low.
"Asahi Hinata-chan, right? That girl's a real live energizer bunny. But you're right, we should probably get someone to switch with her. I'll go check and see if we can get anyone to play along... I think it was Asahi-chan's idea in the first place so we might not get many volunteers to take over for her but... I'll see what I can do," the other teacher said, and turned to go look for a student that could help Hinata out.
Hina, meanwhile, was enjoying herself tremendously and hardly felt like she was volunteering at all. The big, fuzzy costume was warm and soft and it was fun playing with the kids and taking pictures with them. Even the parents got caught up in her youthful enthusiasm and requested pictures with her. One parent had even asked if she did birthday parties to which she rapidly nodded... Not that she had ever -done- a birthday party, but she certainly wasn't afraid to try once!
It was only after a bit of sweat started to sting in her eye that she realized that she was starting to get pretty hot and tired, though she didn't feel like stopping just yet.
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whammy Guest
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Post by whammy on Sept 3, 2009 5:26:06 GMT -6
Ibuki Fuko ___________________________________________________________________________ Fuko hadn’t planned on participating in the festival. She hadn’t even know there was one going on (when announcements were on she was rarely paying attention). Instead, she had been locked up in her own little classroom as normal, slaving away on carving starfish. Some of them had gotten painted, an idea inspired by that girl she met in the reference room, but she if she wanted to keep up a steady production of starfish she was going to have to have some painted and some not. It was a sad state of affairs, knowing there would be some who would not get the pleasure of an overly-adorable painted starfish, but their broken hearts would have to live without them. Besides, even the non-carved ones were adorable, which would help take the sting off of the rejection.
It was only during a small break from her carving did she notice that there was a massive crowd of people outside, and that she had gotten rather confused as to why. Upon noticing all the booths, however, she remembered the Founder’s Festival, and for a moment she felt rather sad. Her sister had promised to go with her to the festival, and yet she knew that wouldn’t be possible now. Still, Fuko had a mission to do, and she knew there was no time to sit back and sulk. With all those people down there it would be a shame to waste the chance to hand out starfish. Grabbing as many of them as she could (which wasn’t much do to her size), she started to make her way to the festival.
Navigating the school was a pain because of all the people. There was a constant threat of being bumped into and having them all sent crashing to the floor. Occasionally someone would look over at her and wonder why she was carrying all of the ‘stars’, but no one really bothered to ask her why. The few who did were told about her sister’s wedding, but they rejected it. By the time she had gotten outside, Fuko was in a rather depressed mood. Her plan wasn’t going so well, but it was probably because they were unable to meet a starfish one on one. They had to have been intimidated by the mass of them in Fuko’s arms, and therefore were afraid to get one. She made a note to make sure to hand them out one by one in the future.
For now, however, Fuko needed to rest. Her arms were tired as her small frame made it rather hard to keep on carrying all those wooden starfish. Looking around, she there were no benches, so she made here way over to a clear area near the wall of the school and, after carefully placing the starfish down, sat down. Once her arms stopped feeling sore and tingly, she was going to get right back up to handing them out. [/size] ___________________________________________________________________________
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hinata Guest
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Post by hinata on Sept 5, 2009 14:05:16 GMT -6
'Being a teddy bear isn't always a picnic...' Fuuko wasn't the only one who needed a rest. Unfortunately the teachers were having trouble finding someone to take Hinata's spot as the teddy-bear mascot. Finally, when her body told her that there really was no energy reserve left, Hina decided she would need to take a break. She made sure to slip away from the children so they wouldn't have their illusions shattered by seeing the person inside the teddy bear. Luckily she was able to find a bench away from the crowd with just one girl sitting on it. For some reason the girl had her arms full of carved starfish. "Is this bench taken?" Hina asked politely, before sitting down to take the weight off her aching feet. After a second she also took off the head piece of the bear suit. Underneath her black hair and face were slick with sweat and she steamed slightly in the cool breeze. After taking a few deep breaths of fresh air she turned to Fuuko and smiled. "Keep it a secret from the kids, okay? I don't want them knowing Kuma-san's 'secret identity', right?" she said, giving a light laugh behind a softly fisted hand. Inevitably Hina's eyes were drawn to the carved starfish, and she tilted her head. "Are you going to open a stand selling starfish? You seem to have a lot of them..."
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whammy Guest
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Post by whammy on Sept 9, 2009 13:02:51 GMT -6
Ibuki Fuko ___________________________________________________________________________ Fuko had begun to nod off a little by the time another person arrived and said something to her. She snapped wide awake, and looked around for a moment before noticing….a bear with a girl’s head? Fuko just nodded no when the girl asked the bench was taken, and continued to stare at the girl afterwards. Why did the bear have such a head? Was it some kind of bear/human hybrid? Hmm, she would have thought such things would have been more humanlike than just having a girl’s head.
Of course her mind took a completely new direction upon the mentioning of a ‘secret identity.’ There was only one thing that Fuko could think of that had a secret identity; a superhero. However, she was on guard this time, and didn’t fall into a spiral of thoughts of superhero teddy bears. The last person she thought was a superhero ghost turned out to just be a really odd student, and then the magical girl turned out just to be a girl with a first aid kit and some old spellbooks. Fuko wasn’t going to be caught off guard, but the thought still sat in the back of her mind. She was going to have to keep an eye on this girl for further signs of being a superhero.
Her mind was brought back to reality upon the mention of starfish, and Fuko’s head quickly swiveled to look at them. She didn’t hear the entire sentence, her mind a bit out of the world at the time, so she had thought they were stolen. However, they were still there, safe and sound, and looked like the paint had dried completely. Taking a hold of one of them, she turned towards the bear-girl and held it up to her.
”Do you want one of them? I’m giving them away in return for a promise from people to celebrate my sister’s wedding, whenever it may be. She used to be a teacher at this school and I wanted all the students to celebrate with her.”
While Fuko had a feeling this person wouldn’t be hard to convince, she had already began to look at her rather determined. However, keeping in mind what she had seen from other girls, she kept her eyes large and slightly desperate as well. Adding in a bit of a ‘anxious pout’, and she looked rather adorable. Sure, it seemed a bit childish, but a combination of the starfish and her own natural adorablness made refusal something only a completely mad person would do. If everything went right today, this girl would be just the start of a massive group of people begging for one of these starfishes and to attend her sister’s wedding. [/size] ___________________________________________________________________________
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hinata Guest
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Post by hinata on Sept 19, 2009 19:55:57 GMT -6
'With our forces combined...!' "A wedding?" Hina's eyes lighted up and she accepted the starfish happily. She looked at the carefully carved wooden sculpture with shiny eyes as she thought of that most joyous occasion that is marriage. She then looked back to Fuuko. "I really love weddings, you'll definitely have to let me know when it is! I'll be there, it's a promise!"Filled with rosy thoughts of white dresses and golden rings Hina hummed a little to herself as she regarded Fuuko. After a moment or so she reached out and patted Fuuko's head with a grin. "I'm sure you're big sis' is really thankful for all the help. You're a good kid." Being told she was a good child and patted on the head were two of Hina's favorite things, so she figured this girl would enjoy them just as much. "So you're going to hand out these starfish to everyone and invite them to the wedding?"She looked around thoughtfully at the bustling crowd. Then an idea struck her and she sat up, eyes again shining with happy energy. "Hey, let's team up! Everyone seems to like my Kuma costume, so I could draw them in and you could hand out the stars. I can even carry them for you so you don't have to make so many trips. How about it? Can I help out? Weddings are best when there's tons of people, right?"
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whammy Guest
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Post by whammy on Sept 23, 2009 5:53:00 GMT -6
Ibuki Fuko ___________________________________________________________________________ Well, it seemed that everything was going good. The girl happily accepted Fuko’s offer of a starfish, and seemed rather enthusiastic about it as well. Fuko had to smile in response, and was quite glad that so far everyone she had offered to had accepted one. That library girl who wasn’t a ghost, the non-magical nurse girl from that room, and now the girl in the giant bear suit. It wouldn’t be long before everyone would be just begging her for some, and that her sister’s wedding would be filled with happy students congratulating her.
The girl patted Fuko’s head, and she kind of wiggled her way out of that. She didn’t like that for some reason, but she made sure to be rather polite about it. This bear-girl had, after all, just accepted a starfish without hesitation, so there was no reason to be rude to her. Fuko was going to act mature about it.
”Yes, I want to give one out to every student in this school and hope they congratulate my sister on her wedding.”
Not wanting to ruin the moment, she didn’t mention that her sister probably didn’t even know she was doing this. In fact, Fuko wasn’t really sure how she was doing this at all. One moment she was coming out of the assembly for freshmen with a car coming right at her, the next she was in a classroom. It was strange, but she didn’t really want to dwell on it. Instead, she kept her rather cheerful look.
The girl’s offer of help did draw Fuko in. She was tired of carrying all those starfish after all. And anything to draw the attention of people to her cause had to be good, right? Besides, the girl seemed nice enough, and looked as if she as eager as Fuko to do this. There was no good reason to deny her request.
”Sure, you can help. But like you said, you carry the starfish. They are a bit of a pain. Just be careful okay? I hand-carved them myself, and so are very special and well done.” she replied, bragging a little like she usually did when it came to, well, just about anything starfish related. [/size] ___________________________________________________________________________
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hinata Guest
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Post by hinata on Oct 1, 2009 17:52:58 GMT -6
Hinata gave a wide grin and again patted Fuuko's head, having not noticed her earlier aversion to such an action. She then stretched her arms out.
"Mmmmmm~ Alright! I'm all recharged! I feel like I could go for another whole day in this suit now! If it's helping you out for the sake of a great big wedding I can't help but be super excited! Let's hand all of these out, right!"
Still with the same huge grin Hinata hopped to her feet and picked up the costume head to put it back on. Before she did, however, she paused and looked at Fuuko again.
"Ah, that's right. I haven't told you my name. I'm Asahi Hinata, but just call me Hina-chan, it's easier."
She then stuck the head back on and began collecting up the wooden starfish. She could see that Fuuko had worked each one with care so she was also careful in taking hold of them and organizing them in her arms so she could carry them.
"Lead the way!" she said, arm full of starfish. Her voice was silly-sounding, as she was already back in mascot mode, ready to entertain child and adult alike.
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whammy Guest
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Post by whammy on Oct 4, 2009 9:28:58 GMT -6
Ibuki Fuko ___________________________________________________________________________ Fuko gave out a small grumble as the girl patted her head once again, but since it seemed as if the girl wasn’t going to stop doing it she didn’t fight back. That, and she wasn’t going to get this girl angry since she was helping her. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” her mother once said, though that might have been directed at a stray puppy they once cared for. The girl stopped, however, and soon had her arms opened. Fuko flinched, fearing the girl was aiming to give her a hug, but instead she was eager to get moving with the starfish.
When she stood up, Fuko stood up as well. She watched as the girl started to put on her bear head, but stopped to introduce herself. Fuko hadn’t even noticed that the girl never said her name, or that she had yet to introduce herself to this Hinata girl as well.
”I’m Ibuki Fuko, and my sister is Ibuki Kouko. Hopefully someone here will recognize the name and want to attend the wedding. If not, the combined cuteness of these starfish and your bear will turn them around. It’s an ultimate combination!” she replied, her voice getting more and more excited.
As the girl finished her costume, however, Fuko’s mind began to wander off. Hinata had her own bear costume, so Fuko wondered if somewhere out in the world there was a starfish costume she could get for herself? Even if she didn’t wear it while passing out starfish, it would be a wonderful present to herself, and, well, she would look adorable in it. By the time Hinata was done collecting the wooden starfish and was ready to go, Fuko was already lost in her own little fantasy world once again, a pleasant smile on her a face as she imagined a fashion show filled with starfish costumes for the entire world to enjoy. [/size] ___________________________________________________________________________
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takashi Guest
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Post by takashi on Oct 22, 2009 19:52:01 GMT -6
"Rookie of the...wait WHAT? Takashi wondered aimlessly outside looking around seeing what was going on. It was odd actually since usually some random fan girl..or his sister would drag him off into some random predicament. Most of the time these random events often ended up with the Rookie being tired due to excess of running or any other thing that may make one tired due to a lot of motion. Thinking about how he would go about that day, there were many things that be could be done. But before he could even think about doing anything he was dragged by his sister Hitomi. Takashi made sure he had an escape plan and waited for the opportunity to arise. Hitomi dragged Takashi to the usual spot but there were a few of Takashi's classmates that were there to help him out(With Pay). "Takashi....I'm going to kill you" Hitomi muttered to herself as Takashi swiftly walked away. "I owe you one Kenji" Takashi said. "Oi, Dont worry we got payed so it doesn't matter" Kenji said laughing.
Now about an hour later Takashi had been dragged around my a few girls already. Walking past the girls bathroom going to go buy juice from the machine around the corner. "Hey isn't that Satoshi Takashi?" One girl whispered. "Yeah they call him the rookie" Another girl whispered. "Oh yeah he's the really popular guy who beat all the upper classmen on the basketball team as a freshmen" Girl 1 whispered back. Takashi looked back over his shoulder and seen them giggle and he laughed a bit himself before buying his juice and returning back to the main area. "Jeez can something fun or interesting happen?"
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hinata Guest
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Post by hinata on Oct 26, 2009 18:11:44 GMT -6
"Hello young man, would you accept this lovely starfish as a present?"
Hina's voice was unrecognizable, even if Takashi had known her previously. She was speaking in the booming but cutesy mascot voice she used with the costume. She had come over to near the restrooms where there was a good gathering of people but was having little luck with the older teen crowd. Obviously very few people would want to be so 'uncool' as to listen to a big talking bear mascot with a little girl following it around. The kids were mostly elsewhere, so Hinata had almost given up on the area. However, she still managed to keep her attitude up as she presented the starfish to Takashi. As long as you held out 'til the very, very end something good could always happen.
"It's for a good cause," Hinata added, smiling though she knew no one could see it under the huge mascot head.
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whammy Guest
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Post by whammy on Oct 26, 2009 20:05:12 GMT -6
Ibuki Fuko ___________________________________________________________________________ After several minutes Fuko broke out of her daydream, and found herself standing all alone. The girl in the bear suit was gone…and so were the starfish! She must have stolen them. Hmph, Fuko knew it was too good to be true. There was no way someone could have held all of those adorable starfish and not want to take them all. Still, all that hard work, gone like that. It was both good (because face it, if someone wanted to steal your work they must have really liked it) and bad (now she couldn’t give it to others). With conflicted feelings, Fuko began to head out from her spot and tried to see if she could find her way back to her room.
As she walked around, however, she spotted the girl in the bear suit…and she was handing out her starfish! How dare she take Fuko’s starfish and give them out for her own cause. That was a rather rude thing to do. Fuming (well, as fuming as she could get, which wasn’t much), she marched over to the bear and watched as she handed the starfish over. The girl seemed rather happy about it, and who wouldn’t be if they were giving out such an adorable gift to all. Fuko would have been going into another blissful state if she hadn’t been so upset.
Still, the girl hadn’t said what the cause was, so maybe if Fuko snuck in her little spiel, then she would have the last laugh. Yes, that was the perfect plan for her. If the girl wanted to take Fuko’s starfish, then Fuko was going to take her cause away. It was a fair trade after all.
”Yes, it’s for a perfectly good cause. Entranced by the absolute cuteness of the starfish, you will be persuaded to congratulate my sister on her wedding day.”
Looking up at Asahi with a grin, Fuko made sure that the girl knew that it was Fuko was the winner. It was odd to see a smirk on Fuko’s face, but the fact was that when it came to starfish, Fuko was the ultimate grand champion. No one was able to beat her at that game. [/size] ___________________________________________________________________________
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takashi Guest
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Post by takashi on Oct 26, 2009 20:32:51 GMT -6
Takashi wasn't paying much attention until someone in a bear suit had said something to him. The voice he couldn't really recognize but he was able to make out what the person was saying. 'Starfish?' Takashi thought as he took the wooden carved object from the bear. He looked at it and it looked homemade, something that took time and effort into making. When he had heard it was for a good cause he had felt good that he took the starfish but he had no idea what the cause was until a small girl had approached both the bear and Takashi. "Wedding huh? Well seeing as I could easily get out of practice that day if I have it..sure I can attend and that's a promise that I wont break." Takashi said towards Fuko. A wedding sounded fun and for a girl just to go out of her way to make sure that people came to her sister's wedding, Well it just warmed Takashi's heart that it did.
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Post by Mizukami Ayumu on Oct 28, 2009 23:18:04 GMT -6
...merely watching~ Ayumu was sightseeing. Strolling leisurely, the second-year student watched the people in the booths, and in the shows. His eyes took in whatever he considered interesting; he paused every now and then. One might surmise that the spectator was unaffected, as the expression on his face remained bland; however, that was not the case. It was Ayumu's delight to pass by the different displays, and the keen observer will notice the smile on his lips that, while ephemeral, kept coming back.
There was really not much to say about what he was doing, because he wasn't really doing anything notable. Of course, back in his mind, there were things like him wanting to find out where Furukawa-senpai was... he only saw her a few times in breaks between classes, but currently he wasn't able to keep track of her... and besides, he didn't know how to approach her. Then again, that was, as was said, in the back of his mind. He was only halflooking; festivities were very entertaining and distracting. Distractingly entertaining? Entertainingly Distracting? Haha.
He stopped by a takoyaki stand. He had tasted them before, and they weren't bad. Weren't bad was already quite good in Ayumu's dictionary. "One, please." he said, motioning to the vendor, who started arranging his wares for his customer. Not so far away, he saw something that piqued his interest more than the arrays of shops and spectacles. There was a small girl-- although perhaps Ayumu did not have the right to call her small, as he was quite short as well-- and a bear mascot. They were carrying starshaped scuptures, and were generally causing a pleasant sort of commotion. The gallivanter trotted inconspicuously to the source.
The two seemed to be confronting another person... another boy. His uniform told Ayumu that he was a third year... a senpai. Well, he didn't know him, and that was that. In any case, he was watching the bear mascot and the perky girl. He shuffled over, silently witnessing his upperclassman's predicament. He wondered what he should do if the two talked to him... he was a little bit quite near. Well, that would be interesting, too...
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hinata Guest
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Post by hinata on Oct 30, 2009 21:06:57 GMT -6
Hina grinned widely behind her large mascot mask as Takashi took the starfish. Lucky! She had been worried no one would take one, and she was feeling sorry for poor Fuuko if she couldn't hand them all out. She was so concerned with handing them out she didn't even notice Fuuko wasn't with her until the girl popped up to provide further explanation of the starfish's purpose. Well, it was a little hard to keept rack of everything going on around her with the mascot head on so she probably had assumed Fuuko was just trailing behind her.
Speaking of behind her, as Fuuko and Takashi talked Hina felt eyes on her back. She turned and looked at Ayumu, her mascot head tilting a little as she regarded him. He seemed interested, which was more than enough motive for her. She crossed the distance between them with a few short steps and held out a carved starfish.
"Hello! Would you like a free starfish? It's for a good cause," she offered, in her cartoony mascot voice. Through the mask she tried to get a good look at Ayumu's eyes. There was something about him that felt different from the people in the crowd... more intense, less like just a normal person walking around. She wondered if he would smile when he took the starfish like Takashi had. She wondered what his smile would look like.
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Post by Mizukami Ayumu on Oct 31, 2009 3:37:01 GMT -6
...echinoderm, was it? The aloof boy had already half-expected the mascot to notice him. He was actually quite surprised that it was the bear and not the small girl who had taken notice of him first. Perhaps the first-year was still busy with their original... customer. People don't usually take notice of him, unless they have something to say... and certain types of people always have something to say. He felt the first year was like that. An open book. A blackboard with neon chalk.
The bear, well... he'd assumed it was a she under the costume, but he couldn't exactly be sure... didn't seem as vibrant and jumpy a personality, but she seemed pleasant. There were people whose kindness drives them to interact with wall-like people such as he. Then again, he probably was jumping to conclusions; an idle mind can churn out a phantasmagoria of ideas. A mind can be idle even for a millisecond.
For a good cause, she said. Starfish? He thought they were just wooden star-shaped... things. Then again, he wasn't much of a sculptor, and anybody who could make this obviously put effort in it, if they were of the same age as he or younger. Or they were simply sculpture geniuses.
He realized he had paused a little too long. He had allowed too much time to pass before he replied. It might have been an uncomfortable pause for the Kuma-san, and he probably looked stupid, if not snobbish, yet again. "Uh..." he trailed off, a little off from the return to reality.
He managed an embarassed quasi-smirk, and moved his hand to accpet the 'starfish', as they called it. "What's the cause?" he went to the point immediately. They probably were going to, even if he hadn't asked. He hoped he didn't come across as too rude. That wouldn't be nice to such nice fellows as this duo, though they seem to be both the type who would ignore such details. He just... felt it. That it would be like that.
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