Up! Up! And Away!🎃

[mermalaide]

The wind was blustery and it blew really hard. Hachiko Square still had holiday shoppers moving to and fro. There were big sales before and after the Night Parade and it was likely that any excuse for a good sale was reason enough. Unfortunately though, all of the signs and displays were being blown over and into the street.

Cackling elderly voices rose on the wind and blew about in the air. A poor burabura was thrown past and flung out into the open air. "Ohohohohohohohoh~!" The laughing was getting closer and closer. The pore lantern yokai, who typically hid during the day was unable to do anything but fly off in one direction. "Leave us alone you terrible Baba!" A bunch of children and high school girls shrieked and ran for cover, as it blew on them.

The cackling came from the enlarged head of an old lady! It grinned it's nearly toothless grin, thinking the whole affair was all in good fun. It blew up an umbrella an old man had, sending him running for cover. It blew up the skirt of a hostess standing there, waiting for the bus and causing her face to turn the color of a radish. It rolled through the sky and lolled about terrorizing, until it caught eyes with Emi, and started to zoom in her direction.

"You there~! Wind mage~! I'm speaking with yoouuuu~!"

[Ram]

“Quite the sight,” a lady in a leather jacket bearing a humming bird on the back of it mused as she raised her camera up and toon some scenic photos to get a feel on the lighting for the evening’s festivities. From a distance at the Hachiko stand facing towards the shopping plaza gave a good vantage point of what decorations greeted travelers off the train for the shopping of their dreams. A few shots for the evening and soon to take part in the fight for bargain sales here after. Through the lenses she watched at the bright lanterns swayed and the strings of lights did too. The. some flyers went by and a wooden coffee sign? “Ooh, this is new,” she whistled from feeling a bit of the gust making her tilt slightly. If Emi could make it through the crowded size streets or that multi-level shopping department store and it won’t be an issue.

What did become a new peaked of interest was the voice of an old lady calling out for a wind mage. “Huh? That you Granny Shihota Otoba?” Emi asked if a distant family branch of the Otoha naming convention happened to be in town. Not that any such person existed or that Emi was ever in contact of them but it sounded right to think a granny of the many Oto clans were around. “Granny Otoba Shihota! Let’s go shopping together if you’re here!” Emi called out without realizing there was no such granny anywhere in human flesh but a spinning flying granny coming her way instead.

[mermalaide]

"Oho! Really, what kind of shopping trip eh?" It spun towards her, huge and with blacked out teeth, which were an ancient beauty standard for marriage, but just looked terrifying now. She huffed and puffed at Emi and at other things around her. Just a big old head in the sky. Some of the others had buggered off to bother and chase people around them, who were clearly running away.

"Do I know you young one? It appears you are a little wind."

She looked a bit amused at that, grinning ever wider. The thing didn't seem to mean any harm. It was simply friendly, and maybe a bit annoying. Though it could do damage. The other ones were seeming to do so. "What brings you here little wind?"

[Ram]

Emi wobbled like a wobblina doll, rocking side to side with her hair and hair tassel fluttering with each puff. Her eyes did water a bit from the gusts of air. “Ah Granny, still healthy as ever,” Emi continued to believe the old wind bag herself turned this way. Granny Otoba was a rumored grandma who had an ill temper and feisty skills. A torrential summer storm she could be to bad children, or so her mother warner her about. Emi never saw this Granny Otoba in person but mother told many stories about the old lady as she grew up but seeing this lady call her little wind so much; this had to be the woman in person! Or moved on to be this way anyway. Wonder if Emi would end up like this granny too some day.

“Ah granny. Was out shopping for some souvenirs back home. Here to come shopping with me? Say say, can I get your picture? Mom told me a lot about ya.”Emi held up and waved her camera toward the spirit. “But where have ya been Granny? Out living the life of gambling and gossiping?” The girl thought to ask this after so many shows always depicted the elderly being the scheming sort of characters to make fun in their retired lives.

[mermalaide]

"Ho! Ho! Hooo!"

There was a healthy cackle from the giant head. Granted, she could not recall being someone's Granny. But why the heck not! This was quite different from the typical responses one usually got being a giant floating baba head. Typically these were screams, shouts and, the very common sight of people tripping over themselves to get away.

Which was good fun.

But also tiresome.

"Gamboling eh? AND Gossiping? I do suppose that is quite fun! Ho! Ho! Ho!" Her laugh was big and booming. It's wind spun her around like a pinwheel before she came to a stop again. Her smile was big, and those teeth were quite something, even if they were stained with the bitter black paste that women used to stain them with. "Of course! Take as many as you want!" The wind that came from her was chilly, even just being inert like that. Did she have grand children? There were probably a lot by now, though, she was not likely to be invited to places really. Wind liked to blow plates off the picnic table or blanket.

She gave a puff to Emi from under, to boost her floating. "What did you say your name was, little wind?"

[Ram]

If granny had arms, Emi was sure she’d try a few poses or three as the camera shuttered away a few pictures. Taking ones of a flying old hag was fairly uncommon but who knows where the old girls do hang out. They gave the impression of wild bikers from the tv shows and movies. If that’s how they really were but seems the one here today is by herself. With each whirling puff that tattered Emi with the breeze.

Strangely, or more thankfully, this granny had been welcoming with the random calls to suddenly be called one. Guess yokai don’t mind old familial connections. Emi finished her rounds of pictures and pointed toward the mall area. There tends to be raffle prizes and the like near those shops. “That way ok?” she asked. “There should be some scratch prizes that way for the evening.” The feather tassels in her hair floated and dropped with each wind shift while Emi tried to keep the granny in good behavior.

“Otoha Emi. I come from a branch in the line of families specializing in wind craft. There’s probably many relatives around with similar names. How about you granny? [ br]

[mermalaide]

"OOooo!" The wind woman howled a laugh. Her big, black teeth were in a grin. "That is very okay! I would enjoy that." She floated and rolled a bit after Emi. "Otoha you say? That is familiar to me." When she got dizzy rolling, she bounced a little, floating as a balloon on a string does. Some of the other wind hags had seemed to have wandered off, likely chasing the screaming people that had fled. "Mayhap so. Fuuka (風佳)! I think?" The characters meant wind and beauty. Which was an interesting, but who knew what a young wind hag looked like. "I know it's not Kumo. That is my sister ohohoho!"

This one was funny and curious.

"Huh! I don't know how old Wanyūdō does it! Spinning like that makes me a tad dizzy!" Some of the people were hiding a bit as they seemed to approach. One lady looked a bit shock and tried to close her stand, which looked cannibalized by the wind. They did find a scratcher booth though. The older lady that ran that one dropped her shaved ice on the ground in shock. Perhaps they had never seen a cheerful wind hag, much less one just that close. She shook as she greeted them.

"M-may I help you l-l-ladies?"

[Ram]

"We're looking for scratch tickets. Uh....ten!" Emi declared and then turned to check with Fuuka to make sure that ten was decent enough. Whatever her answer was, Emi nodded and motioned to her elderly friend for the evening. "What she said." Emi then turned her eyes to the prize listings. The usual cheap prizes of pocket tissues or toilet paper, stuff like that which was all well and good but there was the higher ones to consider. Were they even worth while? To a flying wheel granny? Who knows. "Anyway, we're not leaving here till we wind some of the good stuff." Emi nodded and got her money ready and a 5 yen coin to get scratching for the both of them. A shame the granny can't transform like other yokai but revealing numbers were fun in their own way. Simple things like that were exciting on their own. Once the tickets came in, Emi was right off the bat in scratching the circles and trying to match up the row of numbers. "This a win? How about this?" Emi asked, raising the card she freshly finished and went to work on the next.

[mermalaide]

"Oho. We will win. Even small wins count!" She declared, rolling about in the air. The woman got over her fear of the large disembodied head that was rolling too and fro, with it's blacked out teeth and jolly expression. She had the tickets on a tray and started to match prizes. The first three were nothing special; two packs of tissues, a zipper pouch, and what looked like a decorative coaster. The lady made herself busy logging and grabbing a prize. The next row was nicer. A red prize! A silver prize! And another blue.

Red was a cute thermos with a string of yokai on it in a cartoon form, led by the a chibi version of Hachiko for the square. The silver prize was a Hachiko tote bag. Everything came wrapped in crinkly cellophane plastic and she put it in the bag with other winnings. Thankfully, the blue wasn't more tissue, which was still handy, but it was another small prize this time being a three pack of pencils. "You know, know one has claimed the biggest prize yet, and you have four left!" Fuuka was on the edge of her seat, if she had fingers, she would cross them. Instead she crossed some of the locks of hair on her head by blowing upward. "buuu.." It was a little bit of a silly sight.

The last four had her even try to twist her tongue in a bit of a knot. She held her breath, which turned her pink. The woman tried not to raise an eyebrow. "Ok! Hopefully these last four give you the best luck!"

A red..

A blue.. Nuts, more tissues!

Another red...

GOLD! The last prize was gold!

The red was a little bento. It had Hachiko and the little yokai all over it. The other red was the pouch that the bento went in, along with some chopsticks. Blue, was again, another two pack of pocket tissues. Looking closer would also reveal Hachiko on the packaging, but nothing fancy. It was the gold that caught granny's attention though. she spun like a wheel, coughing. "GOLD!" The woman at the stand was a little startled. "Indeed it i-is!" She looked flustered but went to grab the gold box. "People have been trying to win this one all day, it's really cute, and well a bit expensive in the gift shop." She got the gold box onto the counter and it has the fluffiest Hachiko dog in it. It came with a little brass bracelet that had a train whistle on it.

Fuuka squinted at it. "Lucky brass is good to carry you know. It might be good to have a whistle on you like that." He usually booming voice was a little quieter, as if considering the possibility.

[Ram]

The cards were handed away as Emi scratched to reveal the numbers. Emi didn't bother cross checking what the full prize list was as scratching the tickets were fun in their own way. When the last ticket was scratched and the dust puffed away, Emi finally took a look at the haul of prizes they had accumulated. Packets of tissues, a coaster, zipper pouch, a red thermos with a Hachiko strap, a Hachiko tote bag, a pack of pencils, a decorated Hachiko and chibi yokai bento box, a pouch to hold said bento, and a fluffy Hachiko dog inside a gold box. A brass bracelet with a whistled on it. This station really did love Hachiko. Emi smiled as Granny whirled around eagerly to have won a large price.

"Looks like the ten pull worked," Emi motioned to the prizes they've collected in the bag and pointed to the big prize. Granny said something about brass and pointed to the items. As a head of an old lady with a wheel, most of the items were a bit of no use to her. Maybe taking the pocket tissues and blowing them around for fun if people don't see it as blowing about trash. Emi opened up the box and got the stuffed dog out and bracelet. "I think you should take your full share of the prizes here Granny. Need some help fitting some of these on?" Emi brought up the bracelet and held it for the Granny. It looked like it would be the easiest item for Granny to wear due to lack of hands for most other items but Granny can always take the bag.