The little Shinto shrine has never looked so lively! The whole area is done up in full Japanese festival style! The empty field around the shrine has become a miniature city of tents and booths selling food, souvenirs, and entertainment of all kinds!

Most of the booths are manned by tanuki dressed in traditional kimono and hanoi robes, with the occasional fox making an appearance. There are even a crew of very male tanuki in festival fundoshi roaming around and distributing free sake and treats to anyone interested.

Streamers and lanterns are everywhere and a gentle snowfall has made the whole place look absolutely magical. There is a conspicuously raised platform in the middle of the orderly market festival containing a large sumo ring. Perhaps it will be part of the entertainment later.

Alcohol was reason enough to draw Nena over for a visit. Nostalgia was another reason. She had to judge the authenticity of it, after all. Mostly the drink, though. "Snow, out here? I didn't know it snowed out here. Learn something new every day," she muses to herself, as she ambles around to scope the offerings, while nursing a drink. "Let's see what we've got for food, though... Can't drink on an empty stomach."

Sensuen walks in dressed in her jeans, black messenger bag and hooded skirted tunic that looks an awful lot like a denim kimono that only goes down to Sen's knees. Sensuen has the hood down, as usual, but it still comes in quite handy sometimes. Still Sensuen is ready to enjoy the games and festivities at the unusually populated shrine as others have already found their way here.

The sound of taiko drums sound rhythmically, before a whirlwind forms. In the center, a white tanuki with red details appear, doing a kabuki pose with a matching yell. He then look around, before clearing his throat and straightening his clothes. "Sorry, couldn't resist." He says as he fiddles with his color chooser, returning to his usual red and golden. He then moves to the closest food booth to get something.

Theresa had already started on the sake it seems, her cheeks burning a little under her silver fur. She had moonlighted as an attendant at the sushi bar and onsen before, but today she was here for fun, not work. Still, the kitsune dressed the part, in something that resembled a short kimono. The vixen applauds and whistles as the white tanuki appears, appreciating the show it seems.

Tanuki in colorful, festival garb welcome all comers, waving colorful fans and pointing out various games and attractions. They cheer Kar and his dramatic entrance.

Snow notwithstanding, the weather is really quite warm and pleasant in this protected area. A pair of oversized mascots, a pig and a rat in samurai clothes wander about interacting with visitors and occasionally having little mock fights with each other.

All four of our current heroes find themselves at the same food booth, where a tanuki with a fisherman's wrap tied tound his head is artfully producing trays of fragrant octopus dumplings! "Fresh tacoyaki!" he hawks his wares, "Perfect for a festival! Get your fresh octopus dumplings here!"

The greeters give an especially enthusiastic welcome to a small contingency arriving from Zephyr. A small security detail seems to be accompanying a pair of VIPs. "This is unusual for you, Elias," the man in the fancier suit says to a much more casual young man beside him, "I thought you would rather stay in the lab."

Nena leans forward to appraise the food stall and its wares. "Yes, I'll take some. I'm curious to see how it turned out. I'm from part of Japan famed for its food, you know. I want to see how it measures up. Though I'm pretty easy to please, and I haven't had lunch yet." She shifts her drink to the off hand, and readies to claim her meal. "Is there a reason for the festival, that you can tell me?"

Sensuen is a bit torn on the octopus dumplings, on the one hand, octopi are quite smart animals, on the other hand, curiosity and a susupicious lack of an octopus governed Atlantis mean that they too have their limits. Sensuen walks up to the stall and asks to try one, though her own clothes only seem to highlight how useful kimonos, or clothes made in such a style, seem to be around the world even after p-day.

Kar looks over the takoyaki, humming as he chooses. "I'll take a tray. Always wanted to try takoyaki." He says, to the tanuki. As he receives the tray, he notices the Zephyr group. He approaches them and nods a greeting. "Doctor Elias? My name is Kar. I have quite some interest in your work."

Theresa goes for a spot of food too, smiling gratefully at the tanuki as she gets her dumplings. While she starts on those, she watches the Zephyr entourage arrive. The kitsune didn't seem to care much about lap work though, instead starting to snoop around, seeing if she could find some fun games or something to watch.

Lightstroke observes the festival at a height of 20 feet. He takes notices of the customs of the area that are somewhat strange to him.

The tanuki at the booth grins at Nena. "You're from the old country!" he says serving up a beautiful little tray of perfect tako-yaki. "I haven't been to Nippon for nearly six hundred years, but my recipe is even older than that!" He makes a tray for each agent/mutant/whatever at his stall. "We are celebrating the new year! You celebrate it on the first of January, and the lunar new year is on the twenty fifth, so we decided to split the difference. One of the local tanuki thought that we could use a little community outreach in this city."

The Zephyr security detail watches Kar closely as he moves up to the group. "Really?" Doctor Elias Thomas looks at the tanuki, "You are interested in thoeretical nanotech applications?" His older, executive escort steps up closer, "Do you know this... creature, Elias?" he asks.

There are all sorts of games and entertainments. There is a dart throwing game, some kind of dunking booth that looks fun, a tent advertising a weight guessing game, and the promise of that raised stage in the middle. Right now a crew of tanuki in blue jackets seem to arranging themselves on the stage. Maybe there will be some kind of performance!

"Hm, well I doubt I'll have anything to complain about, then," replies the tigress with a smile as she takes her tray and makes way. "An odd gap time for a celebration, but I won't complain about free food and drink." After a moment of samplina, Nena gives an approving nod. "Pretty good, pretty good. Can I convince you to share this recipe, maybe? I know some people who would probably like it."

Sensuen tries the dumpling and guesses she can't complain. Despite her name, Sen wasn't born in Japan but rather Fresno, quite a ways south east of Fairhaven. Sensuen looks to Nena and says, "I guess I can't really complain, though I didn't know what to expect, what with never having tried octopus before." Sensuen then thinks about the trade and asks, "Would you be interested in a jerky recipie even though it requires the precision of a modern oven? At least, that's all I've ever used to try to dry meat in, I should probably branch out more with it."

Kar frowns at the attitude of the woman, before shifting into a human, flipping a switch on his arm, making the second head disappear. He the snaps his organic fingers, before a silver leaf floats to his hand for him to pick. "Careful with your comments, ma'am." He says as he reduces his assets to something acceptable for a male using his tanuki powers. "You never know when you are talking to a pre P-Day human." He points his leaf to her, before letting the wind carry it away. He then turn to the doctor. "In a way, yes. You see, despite of the look of my arm, it isn't just a prosthetic. It's nanite made."

Theresa tries to decide which game to try as she munches away, enjoying her food. She didn't have much of a throwing arm, so perhaps the weight guessing game would be best. The vixen moves up to the game, trying to get a look at what she would have to assess the weight of. Still, she glances back at the ring, curious about what was starting up.

Lightstroke's mind is distracted by the heat he is undergoing. He scans for highground that he can hide behind to "relieve" himself. He doesn't pay too much attention to his flight path while he does so but flies at a leisure pace.

"The recipe is an old family secret," the tanuki says solemnly, "But if you agree to marry me, pretty lady, I suppose I could share it," he winks at Nena and laughs, serving up more octopus balls, "Why don't you go sample more of what we have to offer? Come back later and I will see what I can do for you." He smiles at Sensuen. "I could probably be convinced," he says, "Like I was telling the lovely lady in stripes, you go enjoy the festival and stop back later. I'll see what I can do for you."

Elias watches with great interest as Kar changes forms. "Was that all nanite work?" he asks, leaning in to look at the mechanical arm, "How is the leaf involved? Do tanuki interact with the ambient nanites without a NICE?" His executive chaperone steps up with a frown. "I am sure that is very impressive," he says, gently pulling Elias back, "But I will thank you for keeping your distance from Doctor Thomas. We don't want a stray infection afflicting him."

The guess the weight game is a small tent where a short, round tanuki is lounging on a large scale with its display hidden. "Step right up!" he proclaims, "Guess my weight and win a prize!" He grins at Theresa. "How about you, Miss?" he asks, "Care to try your luck?"

Lightstroke spots a quiet spot behind the shrine. It looks like as likely a spot as any.

On the stage, the crew of tanuki have finished their setup. A shorter raccoon-dog steps in front of the neatly arranged group and shouts something in archaic Japanese. The respond with a ragged war shout and all slap their round tummies, producing a resounding THUD of drums! Then they launch into a blood pumping peformance of taiko drumming on their tanuki bellies!

"Hmmm. I don't think I can do marriage, I'm afraid. You're not my type," Nena says with a wink in return, "But I'll return later, as you say. Maybe I'll try my hand at a game." She lifts her drink and takes her leave, scoping out the scene for games she could score prizes at. That's part of the fun of festivals, right?

Sensuen nods to the fisherman, or at least fishmonger before she eyes the dart throwing contest. They're quite a bit different than her kylie, but Sensuen is still quite trained in marksmanship, so she only has to focus on not clearing out the prizes, Sen does think she could use a straw hat though as she makes her way up to the booth, asking. "So, what are the terms of the dart throwing game?"

Kar allows the doctor to examine his arm, before his chaperone pulls him back. He looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not infectious, if that's what you are worried about. I took the necessary vaccinations to become an agent, and worked on making the strain in my arm to dot spread unless in life threatening situations." He says as he makes a tentacle from his shoulder, which takes hold of the takoyaki tray as he takes a pair of boots and socks from his bag. He starts putting them on as he focus back on the doctor. "Actually, it's more accurate to say that the leaf can interact with the nanite adept implant. It allows me to change the size of my assets, like one of the software updates offered by Zephyr, but freely instead of using the layout of other forms." He says as a second tentacle emerges from his elbow, picking a takoiaky and taking it to his mouth to eat. "Also, the tanuki form is not nanite based, but interacts with them. Anyway, I can show the code I developed for the strain in my arm." He gets up and brings the tray back to his hand, before reabsorbing the tentacles. "It's just a bit messy, as the base was made in a rush."

Theresa rubs her chin a little, smirking a little as she looks him over, eyes drifting up and down. "What do I win if I'm correct? I'd love a plushie tanuki." The foxy woman giggles. "Hmmm...I bet you're either all fluff and a lot lighter than you look, or..." She giggles. "You're pure muscle and a lot heavier. How about...142 kg?" The kitsune's tails sway behind her, betraying her amusement. "Or, what is that in pounds? 313?" She seems to try to calculate in her head, looking upwards as she does so. it's good that she is done calculating too, as the tanuki belly-drumming has her giggling quite a bit.

Lightstroke Proceeds to the quiet, out of the way spot he noticed from before in order to relieve himself. Upon landing, he proceeds to masturbate furiously and scan the area for anything to help him finish the task at hand.