New Year's With An Old Friend

-Capital Crocus-

Dressed in her usual outfit of purple t-shirt, black skirt with pockets, white thigh-high stockings, and black tennis shoes, Diana walked the streets of Capital Crocus looking to participate in the city's New Year's festivities. She welcomed the festivities because they were a good diversion from her usual routine of "look for work, take a job, complete said job, rinse and repeat" and gave her an excuse to leave home for something other than work or a supply run. She also looked welcomed them because every time a festival took place she got a chance to meet up with her longtime friend Aliarey Casady. Today was no different and in a change from the usual way things went she had been the one to invite Aliarey to a festival via iLac message.

She had sent the iLac message hours ago and all she had to do now was wait for her friend to arrive. While she waited for Aliarey to get here the green-eyed blonde walked around the streets to get an idea of the activities that were available. A quick glance around told her that there were all sorts of activities going on... in fact there were so numerous that the blonde could not possibly count them all. That variety was a good thing as far as she was concerned because with so many choices there was bound to be something that appealed to each blonde. The real trouble would be choosing what to do first.

Even though she was overwhelmed by choices Diana was going to keep looking for something interesting so that she would have an answer ready if Aliarey requested that the green-eyed blonde decide what activity they did first. That was going to be tough for two reasons. The first reason was that the sheer variety of things to do made selecting one to start off with a challenge. The second was that Diana was simply not used to making decisions for herself and someone else.

Despite the challenges she faced Diana continued to walk about and look for an appealing activity that she could propose to Aliarey when the latter got here.

[Post Word Count: 360]
[Diana's Word Count: 360]

"Holy crap! What the hell am I supposed to wear?!" Aliarey shouted in a state of both panic and annoyance. She was running out of time to decide. What kind of New Years' thing was it anyway? One of those fancy shin digs or was it one of those usual casual festival things? Wait. It was Diana. It had to be the casual thing. That was common sense and should have been obvious hours ago when she got the text but her mind was razzled. Aliarey didn't care much for New Years' parties. Mainly because she never had a date or a friend to go with whenever something like that came around. Her plans had been to be completely lazy and sleep through it. That mission was mostly a success until the beeping of a notification woke her up.

To her shock, it had been Diana inviting her to a New Years' celebration. Whhhaaattt?! That just never happened. That was not how their relationship worked. It was always Alia doing the inviting. Did that... did that mean that they were actually friends now? That Diana really did enjoy her company for some weird reason enough to invite her instead of reluctantly saying yes when she did the invites? It was a delayed Christmas miracle! Not that Alia believed in that sort of thing but she would jokingly convince herself of it.

Obviously, the blue-eyed blonde of the team had responded positively to the message, acknowledging the invite and agreeing to meet up at the celebration by way of her own quickly typed-out message. That was hours ago. Aliarey had managed to get in the shower and clean herself up so she didn't look and smell like a filthy animal that had laid around all day. Her hair had already naturally dried well before step two of getting ready had been completed. She was stuck on the outfit choice. How did someone always so broke have so many damn outfit choices?! Hating herself right then didn't even begin to describe her emotions. Maybe she could just steal someone's outfit when she got there. What? No! That was stupid. It probably wouldn't fit right or be itchy.

Her room was covered in random pieces of clothing that she had removed from her requip storage... which may as well have been a glorified closet among other things. Her indecisiveness was leading her to believe that she'd have to stick with the same old outfit. That is, until the perfect outfit poofed out of the magical space and onto her bed. "Yes! Finally! This will do!" She grabbed the hanger that held the entire outfit and gave it a look. Her excited gleeful eyes morphed into confusion and suspicion. "Actually, where and when did I even get this?" Maybe one day she'd realized that her non-combative requip space was still linked to a shop back on Mirai and was taking the outfits from its storage. Oh well. Skip over the details. Her problem had been solved!

The time had come to meet up with Diana and party. That part was easy. There were transportation portals that had been set up for the various parties. For Fiore's main cities anyway. Luckily Diana had chosen the capital as the meet-up destination. That was probably the very first one to have been set up by the mages in charge of that. So convenient!

Once there Aliarey had made it her mission to find her teammate and friend. That wasn't too hard. The green-eyed counterpart wasn't too far from what could qualify as the main entrance to the public grounds of the festival and she wasn't moving all too fast. She seemed pretty preoccupied with looking around. "Diana!" Aliarey yelled, her voice so loud the crowd around stopped to look at her with obvious disapproval. Jeez, just how many people were named Diana around? Alia gave them an annoyed stare and went on to ignore them before she decided on an action that would get her kicked out before even getting in.

Alia began to rush forward in a brisk walk to catch up. Assuming Diana didn't regret the invite and take off in the other direction as fast as possible, Alia would come to a stop in front of her and proudly present herself and her outfit that was a daring white color. Hey, white meant new beginnings and peace or some crap, right? The perfect color for a New Years' celebration. Now hopefully she wouldn't freeze but that was something for future Aliarey to worry about. "I'm here!"

(Word Count: 762
Thread Total: 1122)

Diana was milling about among the crowd wondering when her friend would get here when she heard a familiar voice call out to her. Diana stopped where she was and saw a blonde in an all-white outfit move in front of her. A quick glance showed that the person in question was none other than Aliarey Casady.

"Hello Aliarey." Diana calmly greeted her longtime friend. They differed quite a bit in terms of personality, choice of clothing, and in numerous other ways. They still got along well enough for Diana to consider the blue-eyed blonde her only real friend in the world. While the green-eyed blonde had a lot of acquaintances she was on friendly terms with Aliarey was her only real friend and one of the very few people she could really trust.

Diana's green eyes looked over Aliarey's casual all-white outfit for a moment before she made eye contact with the other blonde again.

"I like your outfit, Aliarey. It suits you well." Diana commented on her friend's attire. All-white was not a look that Diana expected to see Aliarey sport, but the blue-eyed blonde wore the outfit well. When compared to the plain-looking Diana who wore the same thing over and over Aliarey looked like a fashion model, which was not too hard because Aliarey was an attractive person to begin with. That was OK, though. Diana was comfortable in what she wore and since she planned to be at the festival for quite some time comfort took priority over dressing up in something new and eye-catching.

Shifting gears from the topic of Aliarey's outfit to the topic of what activity they would do first, Diana maintained eye contact as she asked the question.

"I was walking around to see what activities were being offered and there are a lot of them. In fact we have so many choices that I lost count. Would you like to walk around and take a look at everything before you make a choice?" Diana asked her friend. She was going on the assumption that Aliarey would choose the first activity and Diana would get to choose the next one. There was no predicting whether the blue-eyed blonde would be content to do that or shake things up by letting/making Diana go first.

[Post Word Count: 382]
[Diana's Word Count: 742]
[Total Word Count: 1,504]

"Oh, really?" Aliarey grinned, obviously enjoying the compliment about her outfit. Her eyes glanced down at her outfit to admire it more than she already had that day. She knew she looked good and it was so nice to wear something different for once. "Thanks! I don't even know where I got it but I totally agree. I should go through my clothes more often."

Diana deserved her own compliment back, right? That was how it worked. Her eyes were forced to leave the sight of her own new beloved outfit to focus on what her friend was wearing. Oh... oh jeez. It was the same old outfit that she wore all the time. Did Diana just have multiple of those in her wardrobe? Aliarey cringed a bit and her mind backtracked from the compliment zone. It was tough to not hesitate and come up with something nice to say about Diana's choice of clothes for the night. For her anyway. Someone a lot more charming and charismatic would have naturally had an amazing response on the spot. "You uh... well your outfit is... yooouuu?" Oh god that was awful. Alia regretted even trying to say anything about it. Curse her damn stupid big mouth. "Yeeaahhh, totally you. Why change a good thing, am I right? Diana should always be Diana, and Diana only needs one trademark outfit to look good in." At that point, if there ever came a day when her friend was dressed in something else, even something as minor as a change in color, Alia would believe it to be an imposter.

Time to move on! Alia hated that she kind of ignored Diana's attempt to change the topic before she opened her big mouth. Now it was awkward. She should have just answered the question regarding walking around to check everything out instead of focusing on their outfits. But she looked so good! How could she ignore that? She just wanted Diana to feel the same way about receiving a compliment! That's how friendship worked! "Oh! Sparklers!"

Just as the blue-eyed blonde was about to stop and dramatically weep for her mistake her attention shifted. Everything about the previous part of the conversation was instantly wiped from her memory. It was still there, of course. She didn't have a case of memory loss. But it was definitely thrown to the very back portion of her mind. The very same place where everything else went when she got distracted by something way more interesting. And sparklers were definitely way more interesting.

If allowed, Alia would grab onto Diana's hand and lead her on the short brisk walk to a stand that had a huge selection of sparklers. If not, well Diana could just follow on her own because Alia had taken off toward it. They weren't bombs, firearms, or anything else that was loud with a lot of firepower, but that was okay. Aliarey enjoyed them and their simple little sparking and popping fire. Who cared if it was mostly something for the kids to enjoy? She loved them. "Have you ever played with sparklers?" Aliarey asked, assuming Diana was there to even answer. Her gaze was pretty much set on the sparklers so she didn't exactly look to make sure Diana had either stayed after being forced to the stand or followed of her own free will.

(Word Count: 562
Aliarey Total: 1324
Thread Total: 2066)

Diana was somewhat amused by Aliarey's attempt to compliment her outfit. It sounded like Aliarey was reaching for something to compliment Diana on, but that was OK. It was the thought that counted and the blue-eyed blonde had tried to be nice about it instead of bluntly calling her out on wearing the same thing over and over. One of the only other outfits Diana had was a navy blue long-sleeved shirt and navy blue cargo pants and it would make her stick out like a sore thumb in a crowd of casually dressed people.

The only other "casual" outfit she had was a pink crop top and short shorts and there was no way in Ishgar that Aliarey would ever see her dressed like that.

Thankfully the subject changed from clothing to something called sparklers... whatever those were. Diana had never heard of them in her life. She was about to find out courtesy of Aliarey, who had reached out for Diana's hand, presumably in order to take her to somewhere that she could see these "sparklers." Diana let her hand be grabbed and she followed her friend to wherever they were going, which turned out to not be very far away from where they had started.

Diana listened to her friend's question and did not take very long to respond to it.

"I have never played with sparklers, Aliarey. In fact I do not even know what they are." Diana confessed both to having never played with sparklers and to not knowing what they were. The green-eyed blonde's childhood was not exactly the best and she missed out on a lot of things that ordinary children got to experience. She had been trapped between bullying older siblings, a physically and verbally abusive mother, and a father who was too drunk to care about stopping her bullying older siblings or abusive mother. Diana missed out on a lot of things thanks to them.

Diana looked at the stand which she had been led to, then looked back at Aliarey. The blue-eyed blonde obviously knew more about them than she did, so it was time to ask her. Diana made eye contact before asking the question.

"What are sparklers?" Diana asked the question in all seriousness. She was not sure if "sparklers" did exactly what the name indicated or if it was a misnomer. She was sure that Aliarey would give her the answer she needed.

[Post Word Count: 406]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,148]
[Total Word Count: 2,472]

Aliarey chuckled and waved any concern there might have been about Diana's cluelessness about sparklers. She had asked so there had been some expectation that her friend wouldn't know what they were. "No biggie. I'll show you. It's stupid easy to set up." Aliarey browsed the selection a bit more, only interrupted by Diana's demand for her attention by asking a question of her own. Her eyes locked onto Diana's for a second before looking up in thought. "Umm well, they're different from the big booming fireworks." Her gaze went to the sparkler stand, quickly scanning the products. a box of standard sparklers caught her eye so she took them and passed them to Diana so she could look it over to get a better idea. "The standard type you just hold onto the stick and light the top end. It starts to spark like in the picture and keeps going for about twenty seconds to a minute depending on the kind and length you get. They're pretty and usually safe to use since they're novelties instead of official high-powered fireworks. There are also some that you can place on the ground and they spark there or others that go into the air. If you're someone like me that likes a light show and a reason to be easily entertained it's fun to light them up and watch. Really it's more for children at these kinds of events but I like being a child every now and then." Or every chance she got but who was keeping track?

"You hold onto those. I'll get us some more." Aliarey grinned and then turned to face the sparkler shopkeeper and the stand. "Let's see. I'll take those," she began, pointing to another small box of five basic sparklers. Her hand moved to another item of interest, a box of sparklers that were a bit more fancy with different shaped tips and spark colors. "Some of those. Oh! Yes! Those too." A box of party snaps was added to the growing pile. They weren't sparklers of any kind but they were still a cheap way to make some noise and have fun for the easily entertained. Next were some ground bloom flowers, some TNT dragonflies, magic whips, and much more, including the lighters necessary to set them off. She and Diana would have a lot of options. It was a shame there weren't some of the common fireworks there but even she could understand why the stand only supplied the fun novelty items that were safer.

When it came time to pay Aliarey didn't even flinch upon hearing the expensive price. Normally she would have. The woman was always broke. Technically she still was. That was why she broke into her brother's secret jewel stash before leaving. There was no way that she was going to have zero jewels in her pocket like all the other festivals and parties. Not that time. It was different than before since Diana had invited her and not the other way around. That continued to excite the woman and she had no intention to disappoint her friend by saying no to everything that had a price tag attached.

Alia removed the stolen wallet from a pocket of her white pants. Trey would be paid back later. At some point. Maybe. If he found out in the next twenty-four hours before even she forgot and stopped caring about his money. She took out the jewels for the payment and back to the pocket the wallet went while the shopkeeper bagged everything. Once that was done Alia took hold of the bags and quickly spun her body around. "Okay! We're all set. Let's go find somewhere there's more space to play around with these."

(Word Count: 625
Aliarey Total: 1949
Thread Total: 3097)

Diana was not entirely certain if Aliarey would believe her claim or think that she was being sarcastic, but the blue-eyed blonde believed the former's assertion that she had no idea what sparklers were. Maybe it was because they were friends. Maybe it was because Aliarey did not look for possible deception in every word other people said to her. At any rate Diana was in the clear and she listened to her friend's explanation of what sparklers did and how to make them work. The detailed explanation made it clear that Aliarey had a lot of experience with sparklers.

The green-eyed blonde was glad that her friend was patient enough to explain how sparklers worked to her. If Aliarey had been impatient or rude it would not have mattered all that much because Diana was used to pretending to be connected to people, but in Aliarey's case the connection was genuine. Aliarey was one of a handful of people in the world that the green-eyed blonde really trusted and her criticism would have stung even if Diana's face or voice did not show it.

Diana obligingly took the sparklers she had been tasked with holding and watched her friend find more and more sparklers to add to the pile. By the time it was all said and done Diana was holding enough sparklers to make a respectable arsenal. Such a sizable arsenal came with an equally sizable price tag and Diana was expecting her friend to balk at the price and try to haggle the vendor down, but to the green-eyed blonde's surprise Aliarey paid the full price without complaint. Aliarey must have really had a thing for sparklers in order to spend so much money without batting an eye.

Diana was not complaining, though. She had plenty of money stashed away for a rainy day and she would have bought the sparklers if she had to. She was Aliarey's hostess and she was supposed to be the one to buy everything for her guest, but this time the blue-eyed blonde had beaten her to the punch. Diana would try to pay for the next thing Aliarey expressed an interest in, even if it was food. The thought of paying for Aliarey's food made the green-eyed blonde question the wisdom of that decision.

If she had to pay for Aliarey's food and drink she would go bankrupt in a single day.

Diana remained silent until Aliarey finished paying for the arsenal of sparklers and spoke to the former. Once Aliarey had told Diana the plan the green-eyed blonde spoke.

"Very well, Aliarey. I will follow your lead." Diana said calmly. She was not sure how large a space they would need to safely use the sparklers, but considering how many boxes she was holding they would need a lot of space. She would follow Aliarey's lead to wherever the blue-eyed blonde thought was large enough and safe enough to use the sparklers without the risk of harming someone or causing property damage.

[Post Word Count: 504]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,652]
[Total Word Count: 3,601]

"That looks like a good spot." Alia raised her hand, still holding onto their stash of sparklers, and aimed it at an empty spot that was roomy enough for what they intended to do. There were also other groups nearby that were doing the same thing. No trees, no grass, big enough that they wouldn't be cramped or concerned about the other groups, and zero other obstacles that would get in the way or damaged. Well, the decorations could catch on fire if the sparklers hit them but it'd be fiinnneee. She had a water gun.

As much as she wanted to, Alia couldn't very well skip her way over there. A brisk happy walk had to do and once there she set the bags down on the ground. The blonde kneeled down, rummaging through the bags until she found one of the boxes with the basic sparklers. After pulling that out of the bag she set it aside and went back to digging until she found the packaged clicking multi-purpose lighters. The poor packaging was ripped apart like a kid unwrapping a present on Christmas morning.

"Oooookkkaaayy," Alia stood up straight, grabbing the box of sparklers as she did, and then faced Diana while opening the box. A thin sparkler stick was pulled out and held out for Diana to take. Positioned correctly, of course. Couldn't exactly light up the right end if it was blocked by Diana's hand, after all. "Now you just hold onto this," the pretend sparkler expert instructed. She waited for Diana to take it before moving on. "And theeennn I just light it up here." A quick click of the red button on the lighter's center later a small flame erupted from the tip and melded into the tip of the sparkler. The result was what Alia intended. The tip of the sparkler lit up and as she pulled the lighter away the sparks began to fly around the tip, creating a sphere of light sparks that crackled rapidly. "And there you have it! Simple, right?" And totally cool!

Alia lit up a sparkler of her own and spent some time watching the sparks move in the air. She giggled like a child, clearly entertained by something so simple. And then the sparks fizzled out. The blonde disapproved greatly, her glare towards the now useless stick unfortunately not strong enough to ignite it once more. She would need another one. Maybe two. Actually, maybe she'd light up one of the others now.

"Damn these things never last long." Aliarey tossed the stick over her shoulder and sought out the bags that held the supplies again. Before digging into them she picked one up and held it open for Diana to look inside and maybe grab something within. "Why don't you pick some out to try?" There was more than one lighter and also plenty of sparklers to go around. The limited supplies were not an issue. Besides, it wasn't much of an activity with a friend if she was doing everything.

(Word Count: 508
Aliarey Total: 2457
Thread Total: 4109)

Diana walked until she reached a wide-open area with other groups that shared Aliarey's interest in sparklers. At first the green-eyed blonde was concerned about the possibility of their sparklers going astray and ruining someone else's night, but as she looked at the area they were in she noticed that it was more than wide and open enough to accommodate every group who wanted to light some sparklers. It also helped that the groups were so far apart that the chances of a mishap were slim. Once her concerns were sufficiently assuaged Diana turned her attention back to Aliarey, who had given the command to stop.

Diana obliged and stopped in place, eventually receiving a sparkler of her own to hold. She held onto it and listened to Aliarey's instructions on how to make it work, watching as the blue-eyed blonde held a lighter and activated it. The flame licked at the sparkler's tip until the magic happened and the sparkler activated, living up to its name by spewing a lot of sparks and making some noise. Diana watched the proceedings with a straight face while Aliarey showed undisguised glee at the sight, only losing her good cheer when the sparkler died out after a brief lifetime of almost a minute.

The green-eyed blonde listened to Aliarey lament the short life of the sparklers and watched her grab one of several bags. It was held open as if beckoning her to take a look inside. As soon as that thought came up Aliarey expressly told Diana to look in the bag and grab some sparklers to play with so that the latter could get in on the fun.

"Very well then." Diana replied. She obligingly rifled through the bag and when she got as many as she wanted eventually withdrew her hand while clutching a fistful of sparklers. She soon procured a spare lighter for herself and recalled the process by which Aliarey had lit the sparkler she had held earlier. Setting the spares on the ground to her right and far enough away to reduce the chances of a stray spark setting the whole cluster off, Diana took the lighter into her left hand and ignited it, watching the flame latch onto the small firework and begin climbing it until it caught fire.

Diana held it away from her face and watched impassively as the sparkler did its thing and soon died after about a minute of frenzied sparkling. The blonde waited a few moments before tossing the expended firework aside and looking down at the pile a short distance from her right foot. She was not exactly impressed with the light show, but it brought Aliarey happiness and as a hostess Diana should try to make her guest and friend happy.

Diana bent down and picked up a new sparkler, then repeated the process. Once the new sparkler caught fire she watched the small light show and held it until it died. Once it had died she waited a few moments for it to cool off enough before tossing it to join its fellow expended sparkler. Diana then made eye contact with Aliarey.

"This is somewhat amusing, Aliarey. I wonder if they come in different colors." Diana gave her opinion of the activity and asked in a roundabout way if sparklers had just one color they came in or if they came in a variety of colors. The green-eyed blonde secretly wondered if sparklers that burned purple existed.

[Post Word Count: 580]
[Diana's Word Count: 2,232]
[Total Word Count: 4,689]

Alia watched as Diana picked some sparklers for herself and went to light one of them. Diana's facial expression was always the same. Only someone like herself would know Diana's true feelings about those sparklers. Only someone that had that true bond of best buddies. Diana liked them and was totally impressed. She could tell. They were on the same wavelength of awesome, and those sparklers were as awesome as the two of them were. There was no doubt that she was wrong.

She left Diana to entertain herself while she herself went through the sparkler stash again. The box of ground bloom flowers was taken out. Aliarey smirked as a plan formed in her mind. She laughed mischievously. Now began the setup process, which wasn't much of a setup at all. All the blonde did was open the box and toss the sparklers within all around her. They were a different variety of novelty sparklers that didn't need to be held. In fact, it was ill-advised due to how they worked.

Diana got her attention before Alia could light everything up. Her gaze switched to Diana and she grinned upon hearing the spoken words. Yes! She knew it. Diana liked them too. "Oh, they come in lots of colors. I picked a lot of them out. These on the ground included. Just watch!"

The requip mage was now about to start a light show with Diana as the audience. It'd be too slow lighting those things with a single lighter though. Using a bit of magic would be a lot faster and create the sparkler show she wanted. In each of her hands materialized a red pistol. Each one coursing with the heated fire of their magic. Alia took aim and shot at one of the ground sparklers, sending tiny balls of fire at it. Then another, then another. Only seconds had passed between the first lit sparkler and the last. Aliarey didn't possess too many talents but her aim for even small targets was flawless.

The lit sparklers began to live up to their name. Immediately they sparked with life, crackling and sizzling as the light spun around wildly. The two mages were surrounded by the flickering tiny flames that changed color over and over and had a range that went further than the basic sparklers that had been shown already. Then it was over. The light show on the ground was grand but also very short. Still, it entertained the blue-eyed version of the duo.

"Ahaha! That was great!" Was she easily entertained? At that time yes she was. It was a wonder why she didn't have a sparkler as a requip weapon yet.

(Word Count: 448
Aliarey Total: 2905
Thread Total: 5137)

Even though she did not show it on her face, Diana was pleased to hear that sparklers came in different colors. She wanted to find a purple one and light it. While a purple one would not increase the amusement she derived from lighting sparklers by a whole lot, burning one in her favorite color would make the activity a little more fun... at least for her, anyway.

She was about to bend down and pick up another sparkler when her friend laughed for a few moments. Diana was not sure what to make of that. Either she was particularly amused by the sparklers or something that was probably not a good idea was about to happen.

At least Aliarey was not playing the drums again.

Standing up with her choice of sparkler held in between her right thumb and right index finger, Diana watched as her friend produced a pair of pistols she had never seen Aliarey use before. She watched as Aliarey shot each sparkler she had set up until all of them were lit in a display of impressive marksmanship and equally impressive timing. Diana watched the light show and was more impressed by her friend's aim than by the sparklers the latter had shot. Out of all the sparklers her friend had shot none of them were purple.

"That was good marksmanship, Aliarey." Diana commented on the light show before turning her attention back to the sparkler in her hand and lighting it with her much less impressive lighter. When it lit up it burned red and sparkled red for almost a minute before fizzling out. Diana waited almost a minute for it to cool down before it joined its fellow expended sparklers in a tiny pile.

Diana was doubtful that she would find a purple sparkler to ignite and decided to give up on the venture and turn the rest of the sparklers in her possession over to Aliarey. The blue-eyed blonde would have more fun with them anyway. But before she handed them over she decided to ask Aliarey whether she wanted them to start with.

"Would you like the rest of my sparklers, Aliarey?" Diana asked her friend. She knew that saying that would make her sound rude and ungrateful, but she did not derive the same level of amusement from them that Aliarey did. The green-eyed blonde would see if Aliarey wanted them back. If she did Diana would hand them over without hesitation. If not Diana would light up a few more in the hope of finding a purple one.

[Post Word Count: 430]
[Diana's Word Count: 2,662]
[Total Word Count: 5,567]

"Thanks! I completely agree!" Aliarey struck a pose and spun the pistols in her hands. That was good marksmanship, wasn't it? Damn right. Diana had done nothing to deflate her ego or keep it in check. The compliment was taken with a huge amount of pride.

"Okay time for the next batch." Which would she light up next? The bigger and flashier ones? The ones that went on the air? Set up some of the basics around and light those up? So many options but before she could come to a decision Diana had offered up her sparklers. Alia just shrugged her shoulders. "Sure. Just set them down with the rest." She wasn't offended. Diana giving them away because she wasn't entertained didn't even cross her mind. That just meant more for her and overall that is what mattered. As much as she could try to be selfless it was always very temporary. Selfishness was a strong habit to break. Even harder for someone that had it as one of their stronger traits.

Diana's destiny would be a more unfortunate one though because of her offer. Aliarey having more sparklers meant it would take more time to go through them all, and she would go through and light every single one. Diana would have one heck of a long wait ahead of her.

Not caring about the time, Aliarey kept going with her sparkler fun. Little by little the bags got less full as boxes at a time were removed and their contents used. The light shows seemed never-ending. Some lit up normally and some chaotically to increase the effect and strength of the show. Even the basic sparklers had the woman running around to make trails of sparks behind her. She was like a hyperactive kid filled with sugar. Or a complete maniac trying to satisfy an addiction. Sparklers anonymous was probably a thing.

Then came the final spark. It was a basic sparkler that didn't do anything fancy except be colorful. It was purple. The color meant nothing to her though. No color really did. She just liked the sparks. But then it was over in seconds. And that was that. No more sparklers. Her fun with them had ended as the last spark turned into smoke. "Well that was fun." The used sparkler stick was tossed away to the ground with the others. All weapons used to light the sparklers disappeared in a small flash of light, having been de-summoned.

Aliarey looked for Diana, who shockingly stayed the entire time. Hands on hips, the tall blonde took the steps necessary to be close enough for conversation. "I guess we should get back to the party. You hungry? I'm hungry. Let's clean up here and find some food. Sound good?"

(Word Count: 462
Aliarey Total: 3367
Thread Total: 6029)

For a few moments Diana questioned whether she had made the right decision in asking the question, but that soon faded when she handed over the sparklers she had grabbed earlier. Aliarey proceeded to light them all and enjoy the resulting light show. It took awhile for it to finish, but Diana was not concerned about time. She had plenty of time and she was the patient sort, so she stood still and watched the proceedings with a straight face.

At the very end of the show Diana could not help but to notice that the very last sparkler to be lit was purple. The situation was so humorous that Diana would have laughed if she were the type to laugh. She could have lit it herself had she not handed over her stockpile to Aliarey. Oh well. At least Diana got to see what she had been hoping to see... it did not matter to her whether or not she had been the one to light the fuse herself.

After the sparkler show ended on that note Diana remained where she was and looked at the ground. There were plenty of expended sparklers lying about that needed to be picked up and carried away for disposal in the proper receptacle. Diana did not mind cleaning up because she had lit some of the sparklers and it was reasonable to expect her to clean them up. She was about to start cleaning up the used sparklers when Aliarey asked her a question.

"I have no problem with that, Aliarey. I would like something to eat." Diana answered Aliarey's question in the affirmative. After that she got started on the clean-up work, putting the lighter down and picking up the sparklers she had lit and holding them in her right hand. Having collected the few she had lit, Diana moved on to help Aliarey collect the small arsenal she had lit with her impressive display of marksmanship. The number Aliarey had lit was not easily counted, but Diana was going to help Aliarey because it was the least she could do for her friend.

Diana was so emotionless that she made cardboard boxes look lively, but she could feel gratitude. Aliarey had included her in the fun despite the former not knowing whether Diana liked sparklers or not. Diana did not get nearly as much entertainment from them as the blue-eyed blonde did, but she was glad that her friend had given her some sparklers to light.

[Post Word Count: 416]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,078]
[Total Word Count: 6,445]

Oh, thank the exaggerated and over-glorified heavens above! Diana was hungry too. Aliarey wasn't sure what she'd do if she had to wait to eat. All that sparkler lighting took a lot of energy and burnt calories. Well, maybe not much on the latter but she was feeling pretty light and a simple snack wasn't going to do it. She needed a full-course meal! Just not as full as the one she had back during the summer festival buffet. There would be limits on the current food-eating adventure to avoid the stomachache she was sure to get again. The blonde might not have been the smartest woman around but she could learn lessons after some suffering and pain.

"Awesome. Time to get cleaning then." Aliarey followed Diana's actions and started to get cleaning as well. Her mess of used sparklers was obviously greater but it wasn't... Too bad. Actually, it kind of sucked. That all should have been thrown away in a bag or something as she went. Now she was having to clean it all up in a way that delayed satisfying her stomach. The battlefield of dead sparklers was slowly cleaned up as she went around collecting the stick bodies and tossing them into one of the empty shopping bags. Diana helped out too so that was nice. Two people cleaning made dinner time come that much closer.

Once the area was all clear of their mess, Aliarey walked to a nearby trash can and tossed the shopping bags full of now useless sparklers into it. She clapped her hands and rubbed them against each other as if to clean them of any dust or dirt that might have been on them. What a job well done that was. "Okay, Diana." Her friend needed to be in on the most important decision of the night so far. What were they going to eat?

Aliarey turned to her and inched closer with a playful smirk on her face. "Food is our mission here. What are you in the mood for? Chicken? Noodles? Tacos? Seafood? Salads? Desserts covered in fried coating?" Aliarey listed a variety of food types that popped into her head first. Each time she listed one she moved into a different spot around Diana. "We're in the capital so I think anything goes around here. Or I guess we can just walk around until we find something but I warn you that the first place we run into is what I'll go for."

(Word Count: 416
Aliarey Total: 3783
Thread Total: 6861)

It took a bit of time to clean the area up because Aliarey had burned through a small arsenal of sparklers, but once the cleanup was finished and the expended sparklers properly disposed of Diana faced Aliarey, who had broken the silence by posing a question. The question was an important one, one that the green-eyed blonde would need to think through all the way before answering. To say that the choice made now would have an influence on the rest of the night was an understatement.

What were they going to eat?

That was a very tough question. Aliarey had listed several options, none of which had any special appeal to the green-eyed blonde. It was not that she did not like those options... the problem was selecting one of them over the others. Diana folded her arms across her chest and thought about her answer carefully.

The decision was difficult enough without Aliarey offering another option... to go wandering the city and see what they found. The caveat was that should they walk around the city the first place Aliarey spotted was where they would end up eating. That would happen whether Diana liked what the restaurant offered or not.

There was no pressure.

Fortunately Diana was used to thinking under pressure and recalled the options that had been mentioned to her earlier. Again she thought about each one and again no one option was more appealing than the rest. Diana spent a few minutes carefully thinking everything over, trying to put off having to make the only choice she could make. Those few minutes ended up being wasted because at the end of them she was back at square one.

Diana took a quiet breath. She was going to roll the dice and hope that she did not make a bad choice. She was going to let fate decide where they would end up eating.

"I cannot think of anything that I really want, Aliarey. I suggest that we go walk around the city." Diana gave her opinion on what they should do. Diana might end up regretting the choice or she might end up somewhere she wanted to eat after all. There was no predicting what would happen from here.

[Post Word Count: 374]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,452]
[Total Word Count: 7,235]

Anyone else might have been annoyed. Anyone else might have scowled. Diana was of no help when it came to making one of the most important decisions ever. Aliarey was not just anyone. She didn't care. She had already given Diana a shot. Now Aliarey's hunger would be what led them to whatever food joint was open and tasty.

"Alright. Checking what's around it is." Alia did not hesitate to rush forward to lead the way. The woman was hungry and thus far there was no choice set in stone. She'd prefer not to take too long to find someplace to eat so hopefully the first place they found was something good and not something disgusting. Having a little bit of everything on the menu would have been a plus. Nothing too expensive either. Sure she might be using trey's money but there were limits to it. Like hell was she spending an enormous amount on a steak like those rich people.

Alia ignored the food stands that were around. Those were just snacks and she wanted to sit down to enjoy a meal. The first actual restaurant that was around was a definite no. She had to forget about what she said earlier about picking the first place in their path. It was too fancy. The people going in were dressed in tuxedos and fancy dresses. Even her nice outfit would still be categorized as underdressed. There was probably a fancy party inside too. She'd never been to one of those before but she was sure they were boring. No way she'd blend in with everyone else. "Nope. Not that one." Alia shook her head and went on with the search.

Another restaurant came up. 57th Street. A very weird and vague name but it was pretty freaking busy so it must have been good. The clothes the customers wore were also normal. Ah, crap though. With how busy it was the wait could have been insanely long. In fact, everywhere might have been the same or required reservations. How could she not have foreseen that beforehand?

Aliarey saw some people leaving the restaurant and approached them. "Hey guys, do you know if this place has a wait time?"

The group of four turned around, one of the men looking both of the blondes up and down but said nothing flirty as an act of self preservation while around his girlfriend. The only thing out of his mouth was an answer to the question. "There was a little bit of a wait when we went in but not too bad."

"Yeah, there's a lot of people finishing up so even if there is a queue to get a seat it should be pretty fast." One of the ladies added.

The other man chortled. "As long as you're not looking for a bar seat. No one is leaving there anytime soon. Not voluntarily anyway."

"Awesome. Thanks." The group of four went on their way after that. Alia looked at Diana. "Want to try this place? I guess I should have asked what they serve but we can always ask the host person inside. I'm sure whatever they have it's good anyhow."

(Word Count: 531
Aliarey Total: 4314
Thread Total: 7766)

"That is fine with me." Diana calmly replied to her friend's statement about where they were going to eat. Aliarey should have known by now that the green-eyed blonde tended to defer to the former when it came to food. Diana was not terribly picky when it came to what she ate and was only slightly less picky about what she drank. As long as she was not required to drink alcohol she was fine with any restaurant Aliarey chose.

Diana followed her friend as the blue-eyed blonde led the way past quite a few food stands. Diana had assumed that Aliarey would raid each one for food, but to her surprise they did not merit a second glance from the blue-eyed blonde, who moved right past them without breaking stride. Since Aliarey did not stop at them neither did Diana.

Diana followed her friend past one restaurant and could not help but to notice that Aliarey had not held to her declaration that the first place they saw was the one they would eat at... not that Diana minded. She had ceded control of the expedition to Aliarey and she was not going to go back on it now. A quick glance at the first restaurant gave the green-eyed blonde a clue as to why it had been passed over.

The dress code was not something that either of them would be able to meet.

That was no big loss for Diana, though. She did not care much for "high society" and she preferred simpler fare because she would not have to pay a hefty fee just to eat something. Without giving the upscale restaurant another glance Diana resumed walking and kept walking until she and Aliarey came across another restaurant called "57th Street." Diana had never heard of it before, but she tended to eat at home most of the time, so she did not know many of the local restaurants.

Diana stood by as Aliarey chatted up a few of the customers for an estimate of how long the two blondes would have to wait to get inside. Once the estimate had been given Aliarey turned to Diana and asked if the latter was willing to give 57th Street a shot. Diana did not have to think very long about her response to that question.

"Certainly, Aliarey. I have no problem with attempting to get a meal here." Diana replied as calmly as ever. Since she had given up control of where they would eat she would have to accept whatever choice Aliarey made. She had faith in her friend and doubted that Aliarey would purposely lead them to a place with mediocre fare.

[Post Word Count: 448]
[Diana's Word Count: 3,900]
[Total Word Count: 8,214]