A Night of Fireworks [Open]

[mrcrazycakes]

((I should probably take the time to mention Yatusatari speaks with a southern Australian accent))

Yatusatari tightened the rope binding on the new rocket for the fireworks show later that evening. A tournament had just been completed at Olympus Coliseum, with Hercules again winning, as usual. It wasn't much like Yatusatari cared; tournaments weren't exactly her thing. She preferred one-on-one sparring compared to waves of enemies. That, and it left plenty of time to work on her fireworks.

"An'... Done," She said to herself, loading the rocket onto her cart filled with other fireworks. Being filthy rich from fireworks sales had its perks; she didn't have to drive the buggy. Yatusatari looped her left arm around the picket railing and gave a sharp whistle for her hired hand to set off. She wasn't that far from the coliseum; she could have walked there easily in about five minutes... but she'd rather not have had her fireworks and materials stolen. "Get movin'; I don't pay you to stare at the horse, I pay you to drive it! We're runnin' late as it is; I don't want to miss my own fireworks show!"

"Yes, ma'am," The man grumbled, spurring the horse on. Yatusatari put her feet on the rail she'd screwed in just so she could ride the cart on the back. The streets leading to the coliseum were relatively crowded, with spectators buying provisions, clothing, and various other things on either side. She overheard a lot of talk about the coming fireworks show in a few hours, but she wasn't really paying attention much mre than to kick the hands of the few people trying to snag a rocket from the cart. Soon enough, it pulled up around the rear of the coliseum, where people usually weren't allowed, and hopped off.

"All right; I'll unload here. You go off an' do whatever," She ordered. The man said something Yatusatari was too busy to overhear as he left, leaving the work of unloading the fireworks and setting them up to his boss. She was glad she'd brought along her prosthetic, as annoying as it was; it helped in setting the rockets in the right position. There was nothing she liked quite as much as this; beautiful fireworks set up in dazzling displays... it was why everyone in Olympus knew her by name, and she was proud of it. That was when she heard someone's footsteps coming up from somewhere behind and to her side. She resisted the urge to pull her massive sword off her back, instead grumbling.

"Yeah, what is it? You want somethin' or just gawking?" She grumbled, paying little attention to whoever it was.

((Yeah, open to anyone who wants to be the gawker. Time is just before dusk, by the way.))

[Sir Percival]

"I was interested in your fireworks. They are magnificent. I have seen your work before, in fact." Nodding, a man, actually, a teenage boy wearing mismatched armor walked up to stand beside her. A sword in its sheath was strapped to his back, with a crossbow lying over it.

Lucius ran a hand through his hair and smiled. Standing beside her, he pointed to the fireworks. "Might I help you with your work, setting these up and such?" It would help her pass the time, and perhaps, he could learn more of her trade. It was so fascinating, making things that exploded into bright color.

[mrcrazycakes]

[avatar]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn127/puhbear78/chocobo.jpg[/avatar]

"Yeah, the best in Olympus at makin' fireworks, that's me," Yatusatari said, grinning, and gesturing for him to start helping unload the cart. "Grab a rocket and start unloadin' if you want to help-- if ya got anythin' flammable, put it a good ways away or you're gonna be extra crispy if the cart goes up."

She wasn't setting up the rockets just yet; they were going into a surprisingly neat pile arranged by size and a paint dot denotating what color(s) that specific rocket would produce when fired off. "There's a dot of paint on each one of the rockets; put it in the pile with the others like it; makes it easier to set 'em up that way. Ya probably know my name, but I'll say it again anyways; I'm Yatusatari, maker a' fireworks. Now who're you supposed to be?"

[Sir Percival]

Luc nodded, grinning and helping sort the fireworks. It was a few moments before he spoke up again. "I'm Lucius Ignifer. You may have heard of me, or my father, Mad Malachi." Continuing to work, he tapped the sword on his back. "This Bastard here was his, and it's now mine."

He turned to look at her suddenly, after setting down a firework. "Do you have a nickname I could call you? I go by Luc...do you go by Ari or something?" It was a logical question, because most people had some sort of nickname, even if it was just some little piece of their name that they went by. Of course, maybe they didn't. Just because he did did not mean they did the same. After all, he was a tournament fighter, unlike her. She was a firework maker, and a good one. Maybe she didn't have enough friends to have a nickname. ...not like I have any, he grumbled.

[mrcrazycakes]

[avatar]http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn127/puhbear78/chocobo.jpg[/avatar]

"That guy..." Yatusatari grumbled, remembering that Mad Malachi had owed her a substantial ammount. She didn't bring it up, though, tossing a dragon-shaped rocket onto the pile of reds.

"Nickname? Never really thought about it, actually. Usually just go by 'Yatusatari' or 'That girl who makes the fireworks'. I get paid either way, so I don't really care. Yatu, Ari, whatever; it's all the same on my end. Call me what you want, but I'd advise staying away from anything insulting. I got a temper shorter than the wicks on the cherry bombs."

[Sir Percival]

"Ari it is then," Luc said, nodding as he continued to help unload. "I'll keep that in mind, though. Don't want you to explode on me." The boy laughed heartily, moving to continue his work. Hopefully, she wouldn't explode on him, because the one thing guaranteed to make a person who got easily angry was to get angry at them. And his anger was quite often lethal.

It was the one thing that he had inherited from his father that he didn't want. The rest of it Luc was all right with. He could stand the people expecting greatness of him, he could easily use the sword that had been left him. Of course, he also used a crossbow himself, but that was something that he had had made himself, not left to him by his fairly famous arena fighter of a father.

[mrcrazycakes]

"So I take it," Yatusatari said after hefting a rocket almost as big as she was from the cart. A feat like that with only one arm was quite impressive, especially since her prosthetic was little more than a bronze replica of an arm she'd been begged to wear while in town. Apparrently, there was something disconcerting about someone with only one arm. "with that fancy armor..."

She paused for a second to set the massive rocket up, pounding the wooden support into the ground with the heel of her left hand to keep it from falling over, pulling the long, thin fuse from where it'd been carefully tied at the bottom. "...You're an arena contender, eh?"

[Sir Percival]

Luc stopped what he was doing and looked at her askew. "Well yes, I am at that. Trying to live up to my fathers' legacy," he laughed bitterly, continuing his work. His father was a bit of a sore topic at times, especially considering the pedestal that everyone seemed to place him on. Including himself, even though he knew his father wasn't exactly the greatest role model.

"I'm pretty good at it, though, if I do say so myself. Not as good as you are with the fireworks, but I suppose I'll get my shot at fame some day, right?" Luc laughed and continued to help his new friend, or something very close to that. It was at the very least the closest he had ever come to having a true friend. Having hever tried for a friend, the boy had never achieved such.

[mrcrazycakes]

"Trying to live up to someone else is only going to disappoint you, kid," Yatusatari said, retreiving the last of the fireworks and drawing out a large bundle that was an incredibly long wick, dumping it next to the pile of fireworks, deftly slipping a loop in through a nearly invisible hole in the base of each rocket, setting them up in various places, but all were spaced about two feet apart.

"Originality is where things are; no one ever became a champion here trying to imitate someone else. No, see, what you want to do is set your sights higher, yeah? Don't live up to your father's name; surpass it, then people'll be looking up at you. Selling yourself short like that's only going to disappoint yourself; I wouldn't be Olympus's fireworks expert if I tried to be just like my instructor... Ah, you get where I'm going with this, right?"