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]

[Any objections or previous concerns evaporated as Nyu accepted the plate, perking up again. Did she like hospitals? No matter. It wasn't important now.]

Nyu!

[And she smiles again, openly and without hesitation.]

[complementing]

Help yourself to anything you like, okay?

[That smile should be a good thing, but it only disconcerts Minako, and she has to tell herself to return the smile so Lucy/Nyu (Lunyu?) doesn't sense anything. Koromaru trots over and wiggles his nose at the pink haired woman, ears pricking up curiously.]

omg Lunyu

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu fortunately doesn't notice any awkwardness, alerted by the sound of clicking claws. She looks down--and gasps in delight.]

Dog!

[She'd been getting better with words, honest, but seeing the white shiba so close to her Nyu, for lack of a better term, lost her shit. She drops to her knees, drops her (thankfully still empty) plate to the side where it at least doesn't crack, and reaches out both hands to scratch Koro's ears and face.]

or Nyucy, but I like Lunyu better :3c

[complementing]

[Koromaru yips, his tail wagging furiously as he accepts this affection. Minako kneels next to the two of them and pets over the puppy's back.]

His name is Koromaru. He's my puppy-- and you sometimes take care of him for me.

also going from the sad roommates log to this is some major whiplash

[long_live_the_queen]

Nyu!

[She did? Well, that didn't seem too bad. She liked dogs, she'd decided in the last thirty seconds she was scratching the dog's ears.]

Koromaru!

[She repeated, fixing the name in her mind.]

I FEEL THIS VERY STRONGLY

[complementing]

[Koromaru whines happily. Lunyu (as Minako has so mentally dubbed her) is definitely going to get a ton of dog kissies now.]

We usually call him Korochan, though. Or Koro.

We have a cat, too!

[A sideways glance at her, to see if she remembers on her own.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[This is the best day in her three days of existence oh my god. Nyu giggles as the dog licks her face, holding onto his shoulders and scratching his ruff at once.]

Is the cat friendly too?

[The memory banks for that are sadly still empty.]

[complementing]

[Ah well, it was worth a try. Minako smiles faintly.]

Not as friendly as Korochan. In fact, he's a little bit of a grumpy cat. But he likes you, so I'm sure he'll be friendly with you later.

[long_live_the_queen]

[Nyu squeaks again, and giggles again, ruffling Koro's ears.]

I'd like to meet him too!

[complementing]

Good! I'm sure he'd be happy to see you. His name is Fang.

[Minako snags a seat and leans back into it, thinking ahead to the trip back to their apartment. Freya will probably have to hear about this...as much as she doesn't want to give her more to worry about, it'd be hard not to notice something different about their roommate-turned-amnesiac.]

You'll meet Freya, too. She's our roommate. She's going to be reeeally surprised to see you...

[long_live_the_queen]

[>good coping mechanisms
>Lucy

You can only have one]

Oh, Pen told me that name too! Is she nice, like you? She sounds nice.

[complementing]

[She laughs softly.]

She's very nice too. She takes care of both of us. But, um. She's...having a difficult time right now. So let's try to keep her as happy as we can, okay?

[long_live_the_queen]

Okay!

[There wasn't much worry on Nyu's face; maybe Freya was sick, or tired? That must be all. She kept on smiling.]

What makes her happy?