open | a respite among so many troubles

[complementing]

WHO: You!
WHERE: A Japanese restaurant in town.
WHEN: Forward dated to April 15th
WHAT: Cherry blossom viewing, as well as a belated Lunar New Year party, organized by Minako and Mako! Come relax before (or after) all of your questing.
WARNINGS: None foreseen!



You might have gotten a quick text about a belated Lunar New Year celebration. Maybe there was even a cute emoji attached to it, depending on how close Mako felt to you. But in general, it's time to celebrate the Year of the Dog. He's brought some basic things like dumplings, and baos. But he would've asked for participants to bring more food.

Because what good is a Lunar New Years without lots and lots of food?

He also chipped in a few bucks to help with the drinking situation. Because what's Hanami without... well. Getting drunk.

---

Speaking of getting drunk, what you can look forward to from the Japanese side of the celebration is plenty of beer, sake, and highballs to go around. Drink, be merry, drink some more, and enjoy the sight of sakura petals falling from the trees right above and beyond the back patio. Inspired by their fleeting beauty? There's a little poster explaining what haiku is and inviting you to compose one, with the example haiku the most famous one by Matsuo Bashou: furu ike ya / kawazu tobikomu / mizu no oto.

Or if you don't get full from Mako's food, why not try the restaurant's yakitori too? Or all of their sakura flavored foods. Literally anything under the sun you can think of, they'll have added sakura to it.

Finally, to celebrate the Year of the Dog, Minako has brought Koromaru to the party. Please enjoy cuddles from this good, smart, and energetic pupper?! He will be passing around wrapped packages with some dog themed cookies in them.

Comments

OTA

[long_live_the_queen]

((OOC: Lucy is in her Nyu personality at this time! Nonhostile and harmless, if a bumbling amnesiac. Memory loss will obviously be mentioned frequently.))

[A]

[How many days was it? Three, or more, since...what, exactly?

She still couldn't remember her name. But she kept saying the same word a lot, so maybe that was it?

Either way, it didn't trouble Nyu too much. There was something going on here, that was what mattered right now. A party? Lots of lanterns, and pretty trees! Nyu waltzed right in, undeterred by the prospect of people

She wasn't dressed for the occasion, with the sleeve of her jacket looking a bit ragged, a few twigs in her hair, smudges of dirt on her skirt and no hat, leaving her horns exposed for anyone to see.

It looked like she just wandered out of the woods, honestly. Nyu didn't have a direction in mind, wandering from table to table, out to the patio to look at the flowers, back again—anywhere that caught her interest. What's that you're holding? There may be a pink-haired girl peering intently at it, or trying to touch it. Or blundering into people while craning her head up to get a better look at the cherry trees.]

[B]

[Nyu has found the dumplings! She's gotten a little tray of them and is standing still now, eating them with her fingers like a barbarian.

She's quite happy about it, even though the steam is scalding her fingers. And she's still in the way, in the middle of an aisle. With her hands full of dumplings.

Who let her out of the house, honestly.]

A;

[complementing]

[Minako is about to dig into some sakura daifuku when she senses someone at her shoulder. Seeing pink hair in her periphery vision, she looks up and beams.]

Hi Lucy! Wanna try some?

[long_live_the_queen]

[She was about this close to touching it anyway when someone started talking to her. And smiling at her! Nyu grinned right back at Minako.]

Nyu!

[That was a yes!

Though there was the small problem of people still saying that name. She was fairly sure it wasn't hers, and it felt strange that people kept calling her that.]

I don't think that...that's, my name.

[complementing]

[The sight of Lucy giving her a full on smile is so delightful and yet completely shocking, enough that Minako doesn't answer for a moment, stunned to silence. It takes a moment for her brain to kick start again.]

I. Um. Wait, what? [Another pause, and then:] Oh! Are you maybe another one of Lucy's sisters?

[long_live_the_queen]

Nyu?

[It was a perplexed burble this time. The other girl looked astonished, like Nyu's appearance was suddenly a surprise. Nyu didn't think she was being very sneaky. Was she after all?]

...am I?

[Is that why people kept calling her that?]

[complementing]

Um. Do you not know...?

[Now that she thinks about it, though, she doubts it. Those horns are definitely Lucy's...this is undeniably her roommate.]

Did you hit your head recently??

[That's the only explanation she can think of that could cause this strange change.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu shook her head, dislodging a bit of leaf still stuck in her hair.]

No. At least I don't think so.

[She touches her temples just to make sure. No swelling, no aching spots, just a few tangles in her hair.]

[complementing]

Hm...

[Well. If she's okay then Minako doesn't feel a need to rush her to the hospital. Instead she starts to pick the leaves out of pink hair.]

You look like you must've had some kind of adventure, though. Where is your hat? Do you want me to find you another one?

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu didn't mind at all; outside of a brief glance to see where Minako's hand was going she stood very still, not twitching or anything.]

I had a hat? [Pause. Then, wondering aloud:] ...I did have a hat.

[Another pause for thought, but this one was shorter.]

—oh, you gave it to me! What's your name?

[She said casually, with no more emphasis than she gave to anything else.]

[complementing]

[...no, she changed her mind, she's going to take Lucy to the hospital in a bit. Maybe to Grell, so there can be a Retrospeccer perspective on this.]

My name is Minako.

...what were you doing in the forest just now?

[long_live_the_queen]

Nyu! [She acknowledged.]

I don't remember, but I think it was important? Something was important. Awhile ago.

[Her voice drifted off a bit as she tried to remember, but Nyu shook her head again anyway.]

I remember walking out of it, though. There were lots of flowers, and mushrooms. I pulled Minato into a river.

[The last part was just added in as an afterthought.]

[complementing]

[Minako's brows furrow as she tries to follow Lucy's (Nyu's?) words, but then she freezes, her eyes going wide.]

You--

[It's taking a lot of willpower not to sprint into the forest and search for her wayward brother right now. Minako takes in a shaky breath.]

Was he okay? Tell me everything.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu was slightly taken aback by Minako's reacti--oh. Minako. That was...probably why.]

He's fine! We both got wet, though. Then a dragon appeared, and we dried off again, and rode on its back.

[And she was almost a splatmark on the ground several times because she kept looking around at things and not wearing a seatbelt.]

He was the first person I saw, after...

[Her voice trails off again.]

...after what?

[B-ish]

[belligerentwarrior]

[Yeah, Pen. Who let her out of the house?]

[This whole thing was beyond strange. Surreal. Freya leaves for a few days, after telling them about the mark on her arms, and... this is what she comes back to? It... saddened Freya, and she wasn't exactly sure why.]

You can wait for them to cool, you know. They'll still be there. [She chimes in from a nearby chair that she'd been more or less babysitting Nyu from. She's had a few bites from one of the cookies Koro had brought over, but hadn't really touched the treats otherwise.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu does not immediately squeak in response--she was in the middle of eating a dumpling and that would be gross--but finishes her food first. Then she chirps a 'nyu' as usual. She learned some manners, just not all of them.]

But they're nice.

[Even though she had to waggle her fingers now due to the steam.]

[belligerentwarrior]

And they're hot. You'll like 'em a lot more if they're not burning you.

[Freya gestures vaguely with one hand, her forearm not leaving the back of her chair.] If you're gonna eat the whole tray just bring 'em over here and sit down.

[long_live_the_queen]

Nyu!

[No objections, no grumbled "I'm fine", Nyu just amenably trotted over to the nearest empty chair and plopped herself down, carefully balancing the tray. After a moment, she leaned over to offer it to Freya.]

Did you want one?

[Minako said to be nice to her, and that seemed like a nice thing to do.]

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya tilts her head slightly, almost... enjoying the novelty of the gesture. This really was the anti-Lucy, wasn't she? The thought alighted worry again, and Freya wondered if somewhere, Lucy was still out there, and she'd just been replayed by The Good Twin. Or hell, maybe she was stuck in someone (or something?) else's body. That didn't seem far from Retrospec's usual M.O.]

Sure. [Freya plucks up one of the dumplings, rolling it around gently in her hand to keep it from burning any one spot.] You really like these things, don't you?

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu hums a little, pleased with herself. She also took back the rest of the little tray, but.]

I do! I found them here first.

[The girl tried to follow Freya's example, but the scalded spots on her fingertips vetoed that idea as soon as she touched one of the dumplings. She huffed a little, and left them alone.]

Do you like the flowers?

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya turns her head to glance out the patio at the trees in question.]

Yeah. They're pretty great. Kinda reminds me of somewhere else.

[In a sense. Even if that place wasn't real.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu perked up a bit, dislodging one of the petals in her hair. She'd been enjoying these flowers quite a bit, running through falling petals like a child and all.]

Oh, where was that?

[belligerentwarrior]

[Freya tears off a small chunk of the bun, chewing on that thoughtfully for a moment.]

Called it Oerba. Small, rural place. Had all these bright, colorful flowers all through it. Not so much like these trees. [She waved vaguely at said tree.] More like wildflowers.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu hummed again, thinking about that. The meadows she passed through seemed to have a lot of little flowers too, where the trees weren't too full of leaves yet and the sun still shone through.]

They sound pretty too. Was it in a forest?

[belligerentwarrior]

Mn. [Freya shakes her head as she hums.]

I don't think so. There were a buncha cliffs and plateaus surrounding it, so I'm betting it's in the desert somewhere. Had a big river runnin' through it that opened up to a bay, then the ocean. Don't remember much else.

[That she wanted to talk about, anyway.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[The girl made a speculative kind of noise, somewhere between a squeak and another hum. The ocean she'd seen by now, and...the creek she'd fallen in wasn't very impressive, but a river would be. She'd never seen a desert with flowers, but she also hadn't seen any deserts at all.]

Did you like it there?