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

[long_live_the_queen]

Cat!

[Someone has spotted the cat! Nyu is delighted, rushing over and dropping to her knees with a quiet thump near the cat. There were some cherry petals in her hair, much brighter than the cerise. And there were definitely stubby horns on her head.]

Cat, cat, cat!

[...she hasn't acknowledged the cat's owner at all yet, sorry buddy.]

[twostringsonebow]

[... Wow, he's seen odd hair colors before, but pink is one that will always surprise him; the horns are too, and he resists the urge to see if the horns are real as he closes his book with his finger keeping his place. It's fine, he does the exact same things to animals himself.

Belle is just as excited by a new person, thrilling happily as she climbs halfway into Nyu's lap to check her out curiously.]

Fond of them?

[long_live_the_queen]

[This is the best thing to happen to her today. Nyu's face lights up like an excited child's, and she reaches out both hands to scratch behind the cat's ears, her cheeks, and her back as far as she could.]

Yes!

[She keeps making those cheerful chirping "nyu's", like she was answering the cat.]

[twostringsonebow]

She's rather fond of you too, it'd seem, but Belle's like that towards everyone. A friendly little... well, not so little anymore, I suppose. No matter how big she gets she always wants on my shoulders though.

[Not on Nyu's, though, seemingly conscious of the girl.]

Do you have any pets of your own?

[long_live_the_queen]

[To be honest, Nyu would also be fine being a cat perch. But petting Bella's ears was fine too.

She had to think about the answer, though. The longer she was around people, listening to them, the more things she remembered how to say. But not everything came to her so easily.]

I don't know.

[She says, as frankly as if she was talking about the weather. Nyu rubbed the cat's cheeks again.]

Pen! Pen has a cat! And four...things. Round ones. On the ground, crawling around.

[She frees up one hand to mimic something sliding on the floor.

The Roombas definitely count as pets.]

[twostringsonebow]

[... Roomba? Oh yes.]

That's something I should get for our apartment. Anyway, I would count those as pets. They seem fun and are remarkable for companionship; humans attach themselves to the oddest of things...

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu briefly stops petting the cat, tilting her head back at him.]

They do?

[twostringsonebow]

They do. I know plenty of people who care greatly for inanimate objects and treat them as if they're sentient creatures, especially objects that are able to interact with us in a way... such as the things you described. The Roomba. They're even upset when they have to replace one.

[long_live_the_queen]

[That was a pretty hot take on that facet of human nature.

...unfortunately most of it goes over Nyu's head. This personality's not cynical enough for this.]

...oh.

[A blink, and a tilt of her head.]

What's wrong with that?

[twostringsonebow]

Nothing at all. I just find it fascinating.

[That's all. He's by no means idealistic, but human nature interests him.]

The fact that humans can grow to care for things that don't necessarily respond back, or in a way they can understand, goes to show just how... Hm. How inclined we are towards companionship. Given an island with two people and an abundance of resources, they're more likely to be friends than enemies; it's only once resources become scare that they may turn more hostile. Self-preservation triumphs over good will.

[... But maybe that's too over the head; he has a bad habit of it, he knows, along with rambling, so he laces his fingers together and lays back against the tree.]

Simply put, we like having friends more than enemies. So we'll even make friends out of the things that can't talk back. I like it.

[long_live_the_queen]

[It took Nyu some time to process all of that; she was listening attentively, head tilted to the side a little while she continued to pet the cat.]

...oh.

[Was it supposed to make her feel silly? She wasn't quite sure. The cat was responding to her, though in purrs instead of words. Was that so strange? What about what she did, answering things with the same noise?

Three days into her existence and Nyu was already tiptoeing around an existential crisis.]