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NO SHUT UP ITS MY THREAD I CAN DO WITH IT AS I PLEASE
Ahem.
Autumn's Festivities
Keine couldn't stop grinning.
The sunrise earlier in the morning had been downright glorious, the air was turning crisp, and best of all, the leaves were starting to change, painting the landscape in brilliant hues of gold and red.
This was the perfect weather for the Autumn's Harvest Festival.
A frantic knocking hammered at Marisa's door, and she looked up from her book in surprise. Outside the door, she could make out a pair of voices shouting and hollering her name, demanding that she open the door already. She casually put the book down on the table and walked over, standing to the side of the door and throwing the latch.
The door burst open, much as she'd predicted, and two faeries came tumbling in. Cirno tried to stop short, but Daiyousei was still going strong and bowled her over.
"Hey, guys! What's up?"
"Marisa!" Cirno grinned up at the magician from the floor. Marisa returned the cocky grin and stuck her hand out to help the ice fairy up.
"I need water learnings!" Cirno planted her fists on her hips and stuck her chest out proudly. Daiyousei leaned around her and giggled. "She means 'science'! We need some water science!"
"What for?" Marisa gingerly pushed the door closed and walked to her bookshelf.
The two fairies practically climbed over each other as they tried to enthusiastically explain themselves. Only brief snippets managed to come out clearly enough for Marisa to make sense of - 'village, harvest, sculpture, freezing, festival, show-offs'.
Marisa was suddenly finding it hard not to break out into a giggle fit at the two fae. When Daiyousei practically grabbed Cirno and threw her out of the way to assume Cirno's earlier proud stance and declare "It was my idea!" Marisa did in fact give in.
She calmed down enough to pull a book off her bookshelf and offer it to the green fairy. "This is pretty much the only book on science I have. Most of them are magic-related, and I don't think this book has anything specifically about water in it."
Daiyousei looked almost unbearably depressed, staring at the book that no longer seemed like it would help her. Cirno recovered from being shoved aside and came forward, pushing the book back to Marisa. "Then magic! I want some magic that'll keep my ice from melting for like... a year! Forever!"
Marisa straightened up and set the book on top of the shelf. "I don't know about keeping it going that long, but I might be able to help you. First, though, why don't you tell me exactly what it is you have planned - I don't want you girls to be freezing the crops in the human village - everyone will starve."
Daiyousei cheered up at the opportunity to show off her clever idea, and the two faeries ran over to Marisa's table.
Keine took a deep breath, feeling invigorated by the cool edge in the air. The rest of the villagers were well underway in setting up the festival, putting out pavilions and lining carts and wagons up to start moving produce. Barrels were being rolled into place for the inevitable quantities of wine that would be pressed later that evening.
"Keeeiiiiiine!" a voice sang out. From the village gates, a crimson and yellow blur came dashing towards her.
Shizuha slid to a stop, bare feet gouging burrows into the dirt, and then she threw her arms around Keine. "How've you been? Are you looking forward to tonight?"
Keine pried herself free from the energetic Goddess' grip. "Come on now, what do you think? All the years' labors growing and tending the fields culminates tonight. What's not to look forward to?"
"Great! Minoriko is right behind me. I'm gonna go help everyone set up!" Shizuha stepped back and patted the dirt smooth with her feet where she'd disturbed it, then sprinted off towards the cluster of pavilions being set up.
Sure enough, coming through the main gate was the more docile Aki sister. She raised her hand in greeting, and Keine waved back.
As Minoriko strode up alongside Keine, the guardian turned and walked with her. "So, am I to take it you're the one responsible for that rainfall in the middle of a cloudless week?"
Minoriko gave a conspiratorial wink. "I'm the Goddess of the Bountiful Harvest. It wouldn't be fitting if it was a Meager Harvest, or a Typical Harvest. Besides, the lands needed the rain anyways, not just the crops. A single day of rain to offset a week of -"
She was cut off as two faeries ran past them, stopped, and turned around. Keine blinked. "Cirno? Daiyousei? Are you here for the festival?"
Cirno pointed at Minoriko. "You think you're cooler than winter and Letty?" She grinned widely for a moment before continuing. "Well, do you think you're cooler than ICE?!" Daiyousei pumped her fists enthusiastically. "Yeah, Cirno! Way to go!"
The two faeries ran off towards the pavilions.
Keine stared at them for a moment before she jumped. "We should get them."
Minoriko nodded, staring after them as well. "Yeah. I'm not so sure leaving them alone would be a good idea, either."
Shizuha heaved on an anchor line, pulling the entire central support beam upright. Several of the men who'd been struggling with the heavy beam of wood cheered her, then began to drive the anchors surrounding the massive tent into the ground, giving the pavilion its structure.
"Leafy!" A voice directly behind her shouted, and she turned around, smiling.
"That's a cute nickna - huh? Faeries? Hi!"
Cirno was standing before her, arms crossed over her chest, feet a little further than shoulder-width apart.
Shizuha began to kneel down to put herself a little more on-level with the short ice fairy and greet her, but just as she started to she felt her hairband come free.
"I got it, Cirno! Come on!" Daiyousei darted past, flitting through the air out from under the pavilion. Cirno's icicle wings fanned out, and she took to the air as well, laughing at the goddess' confusion.
Shizuha plucked another maple leaf from her sleeve and shook it, and it blurred into a hairband. "At least the faeries are playful in the colder weather! That's nice."
Keine spotted Daiyousei and Cirno (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_HkqjuL8u0&t=100s) fly out from under the canopy of the main pavilion and head towards some empty space between the tents and the carts. At least she's not going to do anything to the supplies. Yet.
As she and Minoriko came closer to the faeries, Cirno spotted them. She pointed at the Harvest Goddess and began laughing. "All you can do is pick your plants! That's not cool at all! In the winter, you can build snowmen, and have snowball fights, and watch the snow fall, and skate on the lake, and do all kinds of stuff! Your sister makes autumn look cooler than you do, and now we have her hat!"
Minoriko smirked. "Shizuha doesn't wear a hat."
Cirno's triumphant grin vanished instantly. "What?"
The Harvest Goddess nodded. "Nope. It's a hairband. There's a difference."
Cirno glanced aside, a look of concentration on her face. Keine watched her for any signs of activity; when Cirno got confused, one could expect strange - and often, ice-related - outbursts from the fairy.
Cirno finally turned back to the Goddess, grinning again. "Yeah well that's not important anymore, cuz we're gonna show you how much cooler ice and winter is than autumn! I'm gonna freeze her hat, all big and stuff!"
Minoriko tilted her head. "But it's not a hat. We went over this."
Cirno frowned for a second, and Keine almost thought that Minoriko had successfully trumped the ice fairy.
"Don't care!" the fairy shouted. "Dai! Now, throw the hat!"
The green fairy flicked her wrist, and Shizuha's hairband spun through the air. Cirno whirled around to face it, and brandished a spellcard.
Keine tensed up and nearly dashed forward to tackle the fairy, but the spellcard blinked out of existence before she could do anything.
The hairband froze, literally - it stopped in midair, encased in ice, maple leaf pointing to the sky, hairband to the ground. Cirno closed her hands into fists and dropped into a centered pose, fists at her hips, knees bent, and then punched forward. Concentric rings of ice magic whirled and looped around her hands.
With a dull thump, the ice grew tenfold over, and the hairband was lost inside a giant maple leaf ice sculpture, with the hairband itself acting as the sculpture's anchors, gouging deep into the ground.
Keine blinked in surprise. The sculpture was actually very nice; the maple leaf looked to be made out of crystal, and was tilted just enough to be artistically aesthetic. Better yet, Cirno had decided to plant it where it'd be noticeable, but either by design or coincidence, was still enough out of the way not to impede with the nights' festival.
Cirno took off, pausing for just a moment to call down at Minoriko, "Ha! See? Leaves are the cool part of autumn, not your dumb hot potatoes!" With that, she fled the village, Daiyousei trailing behind her, giggling happily.
Beside Keine, Minoriko buried her face in her hand. "Oh, god, that's what this is about?"
Keine smiled at the ice sculpture. "I think the leaf looks pretty nice, don't you? And what do you mean, 'that's what this is about'?"
Minoriko sighed. "I honestly should've known beforehand that she was an ice fairy and wouldn't like a hot potato, but I gave her one anyways. Apparently she burnt herself on it, being an ice fairy and all."
Keine grinned. "Ah, well. She's had her revenge, I'm sure she'll get over it."
Cirno's voice echoed down from the sky faintly. "Ice is cooler than autumn! Ha, ha!"