Because Dangan Parties Never End Badly At All...

[nostabbing]

Who: Hagakure (crystalballer) and attending members of the Dangan Horde (plus Parker)!
Where: THE CERULEAN CITY WATER PARK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH
When: Friday, July 25th
Summary: IT'S THE HAPPY HAGAKURE WATER PARK BIRTHDAY BONANZA YEAAAAAH
Rating: G to PG? Mark if you go higher for some reason, guys!
Log:



WE ARE HERE

NOW GO HAVE FUN IT'S A BIRTHDAY PARTY AND SOME OF Y'ALL HAVEN'T SEEN EACH OTHER IN MONTHS!

Comments

[codeforhope]

[Suffice it to say that Chihiro's Pokemon seem to be far more excited about visiting the Cerulean City Water Park than he is, but it is Hagakaure's Birthday after all, and he wouldn't have felt right just staying home and missing it while everyone else came. Plus, Shiruku has been enjoying the fact that a lot of people seem to be having birthdays this month and that means she can knit them ugly scarves to her heart's content as birthday presents. While the rest of his 'mons are back at the house keeping an eye on his new Gible Egg, Isamu the Linoone and Chiaki the Abra are both by Chihiro's side all throughout the day, with Shiruku the Leavanny playing the role of concerned mother trying to make sure her children have on enough sunscreen.

No doubt thanks to much gentle persuasion by way of Asahina, Chihiro has come along with the rest of the group wearing a green wetsuit because we are certainly not comfortable in anything else. You probably won't catch Chihiro taking a turn on Nature's Revenge any time soon, but he can be found in a couple of places throughout the day...

A. Over at the Kiddie Pool, Chihiro sits in one of the shallow areas with Chiaki sitting in front of him, the water deep enough to nearly go past her chest. She seems content to sit and splash her claws against the top of the water with Chihiro there ready to reach out and pick her up if anyone running around starts to disturb the water enough to frighten her into reaching out and trying to scramble up into his arms. Not far away from them, Isamu lies stretched out flat on his side one of the lounge chairs, his legs draped over the side as he struggles not to just pass out right there in the sun...though he probably already has by now. Shiruku sits on the edge of another chair nearby with some towels draped over her arms if they are needed.

B. Turtle Creek is marginally deeper than anything the little Abra feels comfortable trying to be in on her own, so she's got her hand in Chihiro's and is trying to drag him over, pointing a little at the inner tubes that are resting nearby for people to use. While this isn't exactly the Frantic Atlantic, there seem to be quite a few people occupying the river, and Chihiro hesitates a bit, even with Shiruku gently trying to nudge him over herself.

O-oh, well, I...I don't know...

[Can't we just go back to the kiddie pool where there's like....barely any people?...]

C. [Of course with Isamu the living garbage disposal around, Chihiro wasn't going to be able to get out of this without a stop at the Snack Stand. Everyone is getting some Oran Berries to snack on, looks like, though when Chihiro pulls out a sandwich for himself from home Isamu is practically in his lap at mach speed, staring up at him with those big blue eyes in the hopes that maybe he can convince him to just drop the entire thing right into his mouth.]

[crystalballer]

[THIS IS WHY HAGAKURE LOVES HAVING A SUMMER BIRTHDAY.

The sudden trip to Cerulean City was a huge surprise for Hagakure, who was just expecting to throw a little party at the Dangan House and maybe go out for a drink to celebrate turning...23 what. In some ways he still feels like he should be 21 but memory shenanigans, everyone. Regardless, imagine his excitement when he found out the Dangans (+ Alice-chi) would be congregating at the water park for his birthday!

He's so pumped, you guys.

Hagakure can be found at various places in the park, sporting these super awesome long swim trunks that he picked up from the gift shop when they got to the park. He's a little reluctant to go without his stomach band but he figures his belly button should be okay if he did a protective chat beforehand (Hagakure...). His short dreads have been pulled back with a thick hairband for the water festivities. He even brought along some of his Pokemon! Grey the Elgyem is of course attending, along with Esper the Kadabra and Hathor the Miltank. Man, he just brings that cow with him everywhere despite not using her for regular battles.

A - Frantic Atlantic: Hagakure's never claimed to be much of a surfer, but he's definitely giving it a try in this simulated wave ride! Although he's trying to surf with a paddle board and that's...that's gotta be some sort of rule breach but you know what, he's doing it anyway. Grey is on his shoulders and looking hella agitated about Hagakure's idea of a fun surfing time, but at least they haven't wiped out...! Yet.

B - Turtle Creek: Time for a lazy ride down the river! Hagakure's put Hathor and Esper on their own inner tubes and scored one for him and Grey, and they're just sprawled out on those tubes and heading down the river. Feel free to join them and catch up on goings-on!

C - Nature's Revenge: You really didn't think he wouldn't try this one out, did you? Of course, he has to make sure Ishimaru isn't anywhere nearby before beginning his ascend to the top of the crazy slide. All three of his Pokemon are with, and they intend to go down the slide in a line. Hathor's really nervous about it, and Hagakure's just exhausted because he has to help carry her up the stairs. Still, it's gonna be totally worth it...!

D - Shade Pavilion by the Kiddie Pool: The day's winding down and Hagakure's starting to tire out from all the running around and excitement. So while his Pokemon are enjoying themselves in the Kiddie Pool, Hagakure's crashed on one of the beach chairs and is taking in some sun, possibly looking for cake and presents as well. Also that is totally not a bottle of booze he sneaked in under the guise of some regular soda bottle. Nope.

Create Your Own: Feel free to catch Hagakure running around the park! He's trying to see absolutely everything.]

D

[codeforhope]

[Chihiro seems to be spending quite a lot of his time here today, not really for his sake since even he can't get much pool-related enjoyment out of a kiddie pool, but his Pokemon are enjoying it and that's good enough for him.

The moment he sees Hagakure come by, however, Shiruku is up from where she'd been sitting and over by Chihiro's side, quickly taking him by the hand with her free arm to drag him over to the other empty chairs. Sitting beneath one of them is a bag with Hagakure's present shoved inside, and Shiruku wanted to give it to him herself.

So after depositing the towels she grabs up the bag, walking over with Chihiro by her side, the bag's strings held carefully on the tips of her claws.]

Happy Birthday, Hagakure-kun!

[crystalballer]

[Don't mind Hagakure as he casually places (more like...throws the thing) his "soda bottle" under his own chair when he hears Chihiro's voice. He's beaming when he turns to face his classmate though.]

Thanks, Fujisaki-chi! I'm really glad you and your Pokemon came!

[It's hard for him to not notice the present, so he'll casually point it out, definitely excited at the sight of it.]

Ooh, is that for me?

[codeforhope]

[Both Chihiro and the Leavanny nod in unison as she holds the bag out for him to take.]

Mhm!

[Inside is a....well, it's a scarf of questionable quality that Shiruku seems very excited about, bouncing a bit on her heels as she waits for Hagakure to open it.]

Shiruku wanted to make your birthday present, so I let her. I hope that's okay.

[crystalballer]

[While some might be put off by that scarf of questionable quality, Hagakure is completely and unironically captivated by the thing. He even makes a sound of excited happiness when he pulls it out and is holding it in his hands.]

Shiruku, you're a freakin' sewing genius! How'd you know green's one of my favorite colors?

[He grins, trying the fluffy scarf on. It clashes badly with his swim trunks, but since when did he start caring about fashion?]

Thank you, both of you!

[codeforhope]

[Well needless to say she is overjoyed that Hagakure likes her latest project, clapping the tips of her claws together happily. Wow, that means so far she's 2/2 on the "people like my ugly presents" front!

And Chihiro is just as pleased, if only for the fact that Shiruku is happy that Hagakure likes it.

...Oh gosh he's even wearing it now, and that makes her even happier.]

Lea! Leavanny!!

[Chihiro just smiles, giggling softly.]

You're very welcome. She's been practicing..

D

[nostabbing]

[So Parker's been...well, it's not that she hasn't been having fun today, because she assuredly has — this is a water park, after all, and it is AMAZING — but she's been a little bit fidgety, too, in that Parkerish way that usually manifests in the form of one part avoidance and nineteen parts mania. Still, she's been having a good time, and it's not until late in the day that it seems the fidgeting comes to a head; when it does, she eventually makes her way over to Hagakure in the Shade Pavilion, doing her best to catch him at a time when he's alone.

She's still somewhat soaked from just being in the water, so her ponytail is dripping and drooping and her wetsuit's colors are bold from the damp, but that doesn't seem to bother her as she finds a beach chair for herself and plunks right down near Hagakure, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees.]

Hi!

[...]

Sooo...pretty good birthday, right?

[SO SMOOTH, PARKER.]

[crystalballer]

[Hagakure's been left alone at this point mostly because it looks like he's snoozing as he's sprawled out on his chair with his arms behind his head. But he's not sleeping, he was just resting his eyes...! All that swimming, running and excitement has exhausted him and he'll likely be sore tomorrow, but it was worth it.

He stirs when he's spoken to though, cracking open an eyelid and smiling in Alice's direction. See, totally not sleeping!]

It's been awesome. I've never had a birthday party like this! [Surrounded by friends, he means. It means a lot to him that he he has so many amazing friends now, when he used to have none.] I really owe you one for setting this up, Alice-chi.

[He stretches briefly before sitting up to give Alice his full attention. He would be lying if he said he didn't notice the fidgeting at points throughout the day, but he doesn't address it directly.]

Are you having fun, too?

[nostabbing]

Yeah! This is totally cool. All the rides and stuff, yeah. And hanging out with you! Hanging out with you is great too.

[NO, SHE'S NOT FIDGETY AT ALL, DOES IT SHOW.

Fortunately, she's not really one to drag things out once she's sort of gotten her head wrapped around the idea of doing them, so after a little more nervous shuffling, she eventually makes her attempt: ]

...Would you still like me if there was a thing you didn't know about me? Because I didn't...tell you. About the thing. That you don't know. That thing.

[She gives him an uncertain look.]

[crystalballer]

[He was about to comment on how glad he is that she thinks he's great to hang out with, but he's caught off guard by that sudden serious question out of nowhere. The smile he was sporting fades into a look of equal uncertainty and confusion.]

Well...there's always gonna be stuff friends don't know about each other, so I wouldn't stop liking you just 'cause of that, ya know?

[Of course he's not going to outright say he's not a fan of secrets to Alice (because he'd be a hypocrite for saying so), but he's coming off as uncomfortable with where this conversation went. Some of his classmates were holding some big secrets, and some were easier to deal with than others. He really hopes Alice's is one of the easier ones.]

Are you...going to tell me? I dunno why else you'd be asking...

[nostabbing]

[She kind of purses her lips together and works her mouth around a bit, as she tends to do when she's nervous, taking a couple of presumably steadying breaths before forging on.]

Yeah.

[She remembers the last time she'd attempted this; to think, it was almost a year ago now that she'd done it (which means it's about as long that she's been keeping this a secret from them, from all of them, and it never really bothered her before but...suddenly it's bothering her now), and it's still pretty awkward, but at least she has a somewhat better idea of what not to do with this, as opposed to just...well, what she'd done the last time.

She swallows hard. Alice's friends are Parker's friends, too. Alice is Parker. These are her friends.

Hagakure is her friend.

So maybe it won't...be weird, if suddenly he's Parker's and not Alice's. It wasn't weird the last time. Maybe it'll be okay.]

W...What if the thing...

[Fidget.]

What if...my name wasn't Alice-chi...?

[nostabbing]

[Like most of her Dangan compatriots, Parker has turned out in full force for a day of water parking and generally making Hagakure's birthday a great one. Like Fujisaki, she has also donned a green wetsuit (because green is the best color, obviously), and she is wandering merrily around the park with Gummy the Politoed in tow, hooking up with small drifting clusters of her friends when she spots them, and heading off on her own when the mood strikes her. She's got her hair in a ponytail that predictably stays soaked through for most of the day, but she's smiling a lot and seems reasonably upbeat about the whole business, so there's that, too.

So here's where you can find her today:

A - The Frantic Atlantic: Whatever you are supposed to be doing in the Frantic Atlantic, it is probably not "swimming around like a damn shark and exploding up from beneath the waves in a flurry of bubbles every time you sight your prey", but that is exactly what Parker and Gummy seem to be doing today. Beware!

B - Turtle Creek: All this drifting around on rafts is boring; hopefully some friends came with her on this one, because otherwise she's just going to be floating aimlessly and looking for shiny things that seem worth stealing instead.

C - Larry's Giant Subs: Fun in the sun breeds a mighty hunger. PARKER WANT EAT. And one of those subs looks huge and delicious. With any luck she'll even remember she's supposed to pay for it.

D - Nature's Revenge: OH MAN OH MAN WHO EVEN KNOWS WHAT THIS IS BUT IT LOOKS AWESOME LET'S GO ON NATURE'S REVENGE]

C

[codeforhope]

[Did you ask for a fuzzy wuzzy? CAUSE HERE COMES A FUZZY WUZZY.

This fuzzy wuzzy is decidedly a lot bigger since you last saw him, Parker, though most of his chubbiness seems to have been translated into turning him into a giant fuzzy noodle. As such, when he spots Parker across the way, Isamu sneaks away from Chihiro and under the picnic table, stopping when he makes it to wherever Parker is sitting.

He pokes his nose out from beneath the edge of the table, sniffing curiously and trying to inch closer to that sub without being spotted.]

[nostabbing]

[OH NO IT'S A FUZZY WUZZY

Poor fuzzy wuzzy, you should know better than to try to sneak up on Parker. She is the ultimate ninja.]

...Hi!

[She peeks under the table, stage-whispering when she spots her little buddy.]

[codeforhope]

[!!!

Isamu jumps a little and lets out a small noise of surprise once he's been spotted. His cover blown, he slinks out from under the table and around so he can face Parker, leaning back on his haunches so he can prop his forepaws up on the seat.

After a long pause he sort of unceremoniously drops his head into her lap similar to how he was doing Chihiro, not minding her inevitable dampness as he puts on the best puppydog eyes he can muster.]

[nostabbing]

[Awwwww. What a good and loving fuzzywuzz! She doesn't seem to mind the head in her lap, either, and starts petting him once he does (with the hand that isn't attending to her sandwich).]

Hi, buddy! Hey, buddy, are you having fun?

[codeforhope]

[The Linoone nods his head a little before turning it to the side, nuzzling his cheek into Parker's hand. Our appetite is great, but there is always room for pettings, yes there is.]

[freshprints]

[Well, hopefully someone has introduced Kirigiri to the miracle of SPF-8000 sunscreen before this little adventure kicks off, because otherwise she is going to spend five seconds in the sun and come away from it red as a beet. The fact that she has on a super cute bathing suit will not help with that eventuality any, either; fortunately, she brought along a long T-shirt and a hat for the times when she's not swimming and feels like getting the sun off, but for the most part she's doing a lot of sitting and people-watching moreso than riotous excitement.

Clearly someone ought to remedy that at once.

A - Shade Pavilion: Yes, yes, the Frantic Atlantic is an excellent place to have fun and get wet and spend the day, but in-between her brief forays into the water, Kirigiri is mostly going to be staking out a place in the shade pavilion, relaxing on one of the provided recliners and spending more time observing other people's fun than really going out and participating in any of their shenanigans.

B - Pirate's Passage: SHE IS STANDING AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS RIDE LOOKING UP AT IT LIKE SHE'S SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING. NOW IS YOUR CHANCE.

C - Snack Stand: Hey, man, a Kirigiri's gotta eat (eventually). The giant subs aren't really her thing, so she's nosing around the snack stand instead, looking at what they have available and rummaging for something to tide her over until they're back in the hotel room and she can grab something a little less...fun park-y to consume.]

B

[crystalballer]

[As Kirigiri's standing there and considering attempting the water slide, some crazy kid just bolts right by her, clearly ignoring the fact that running in a water park is really dangerous and Ishimaru would be on his ass in seconds if he caught sight of it.

But he skids to a stop just before he reaches the stairs as if something caught his eye, and rushes back to Kirigiri.]

Hey Kirigiri-chi, are you gonna go on Pirate's Passage? We should go together!

[Of course it's Hagakure. There are only so many idiots in the Dangan brigade, after all.

Also, the contrast between their skin color is really strong when they're in bathing suits. Please don't burn, Kirigiri-chi...]

[freshprints]

[THE FORCE OF HER ABRUPT DO NOT WANT RIGHT NOW

> try to flee try to flee try to flee

...

CAN'T GET AWAY!]

Ah, Hagakure-kun.

[...STILL CAN'T GET AWAY FUCKDAMN]

It's rather tall, isn't it?

[crystalballer]

[THERE IS NO ESCAPE.

He laughs, looking up to the top where other park-goers are getting settled into their two-person inner tubes in preparation for the ride.]

Yeah, but it's no big deal. I've been on it like five times already and it's definitely not as scary as Nature's Revenge. You don't even see anything while you're on it 'cept for that big Pelipper that looks at you halfway through.

You're not afraid of heights right, Kirigiri-chi?

[freshprints]

I'm not afraid.

[She's not addressing the question of heights in general, because it involves far too much hair-splitting in terms of what it is she actually dislikes about them, and nobody actually wants to talk about murderschool anyway, so why would we ever want to talk about it at a birthday party.]

...

[Well, it is the guy's birthday...]

If that's what you want...it'd make sense to go together.

[crystalballer]

[Yeah, maybe that's for the best...

Regardless, SUCCESS. FTE with Kirigiri is go! Judging by the way he beams when she agrees to go with him, Kirigiri's made the birthday boy really happy. He's actually curious to see how Ms. Always Serious reacts to a fun and exciting water ride.]

Great! Let's go, then!

[He moves on ahead to the stairs, choosing not to lead her by hand because he's pretty sure she'd end up doing some sort of crazy suplex on him for it...or kick him. One of those, and neither sound good.]

The climb's worth it, promise.

[ardent]

[Ishimaru is still never quite sure what to do with himself in crowds, especially now that certain things have been drilled into his head as being strange or generally not...acceptable things to do; in some ways that's a good thing, since it tempers some of the shouting and general social strangeness, though it does leave him kind of at a loss for what to do with himself once in a while.

...yeah, he still doesn't quite comprehend "fun for fun's sake" yet.

But at least today he's not seeming too fidgety, nor is he immediately willing to decide this is all a waste of time and fret about doing it; the result is that he's just sort of...wandering around and kind of staring at stuff, and he's wearing...uh, well, it's a little less "why" than it could have been, anyway, and once in a while he'll run into someone and he'll say hi but in general he still has no damn idea how to party. He really does like the water, though, and as the day wears on he's spending more and more time around the Frantic Atlantic (or the Pokéworld equivalent) today. He seems to be enjoying playing in the waves like a...surprisingly normal kid, even if he seems a bit intense about it.

He can be found elsewhere as well, of course, and as such he can be grabbed just about anywhere; he'll be seeking out Hagakure eventually as well, of course. But it seems like all the travel and generally being in Kanto has been doing him some good, and he seems to be doing pretty well, all things considered.]