like a big pizza pie [Valentine's Day Date Night]

[ayes]

Who: You Watanabe (ayes) & others!
What: Valentine's matchmaking dinner
When: February 14
Where: Olympia (of the past)
Warning(s): Some mild druglike effects, and probably some NSFW stuff in threads?

On or around February 12, you get a letter in the mail. Upon opening it, you'll find that it's very, very similar to the one you got last year-- if you were here for this last year-- and it's written in that same looping, cheerful script.

Hello [YOUR NAME HERE]!
I know things are a little hard, but that doesn't mean we can't have a really great night together!
On the evening of February 14, please come join us in Olympia (even if it's this past Olympia) for a special surprise!

Your friend,
You

P.S. "You" is still my name.

There's another smiley face drawn on the letter, and an address given in the center of Olympia. Some of you may have been expecting this, since you saw or responded to her post, but perhaps others are caught off guard, since you were entered by pranksters.



[I: Arrival]

If you decide to take the plunge and check it out anyway, you'll find a restaurant that's much smaller than the dining hall she'd rented out last year. Having been thrown into an alternate past timeline of Olympia has tossed a serious wrench into her plans, and with the holiday, You has struggled to find an appropriate venue. But find one she has, and there are pink and red ribbons and balloons and lacy hearts all over the place.

Once again, there's a harried-looking young woman scurrying around, as well as other people who may look just as confused as you do.

[II: Dinner]

Inside, the restaurant is decked out in pinks and reds and hearts. Each table is set out with a white tablecloth and a pair of candlesticks, and has a nametag on it: Mr. Law, Ms. Mikumo, Ms. Janeway, and so on. There's another name tag on the seat across from your own. It looks like you've got a date?

Before long, You is along to take your food order. What are you in the mood for?

[III: Sin and Sweetness]

There's no big musical act this year like there was last year; You is mainly focusing on the event and there's also no stage to sing and dance on. She does, at some point, take a microphone in the corner and sing some cute love songs to entertain you while you eat, but it's not for long, and she's zooming off to the kitchen after three or four songs.

As your dinner wears down, your attention is directed to a cart off to the side piled high with desserts, pastries of all types and shapes. A waiter begins pushing it around from table to table.

If you went to her party last year, you'll recognize these; they seemed to be a big hit so she's done it again. You has baked them off a recipe book she'd found in the entertainment district of Olympia, and there's another handwritten sign:

Let's spice things up again this year! (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ
Try the pastries to feel romantic!

The various pastries themselves have similarly handwritten signs on them, notifying you (if a little obliquely) of some potentially interesting effects...

• Strudel: "Find beauty in the world!" (For whatever reason, other people look a little more attractive.)
• Baklava: "To tell them how you really feel!" (You'll feel more likely to be honest, if not overshare.)
• Cannoli: "Because love needs laughter!" (Everything other people say is somehow funnier than usual.)
• Cinnamon Roll: "The nose knows!" (The first person you look at smells oddly like your favorite smell.)
• Blueberry Scone: "For a bit of courage!" (This will make you feel bolder, intensifying emotions you already feel.)
• Mooncake: "To feel like falling in love!" (Every time you look at the first person you see, your heart beats a little faster.)
• Taiyaki: "Try to see someone else differently!" (Every time you look at the first person you see, there are little sparkles around them.)

There are, thankfully, plenty of non-magical desserts for those who just want to indulge their sweet tooth.

((OOC: As always, please label your threads if they turn NSFW, and run any pastry effects by your thread partners!))

Comments

[stargazed]

[Personal it might be, and Mikumo can respect sticking at something, but there's something almost disappointed to the little hum she gives after that. It might just be the world she comes from, but she usually expects something...bigger.]

I see. It sounds more like you were still looking for a true purpose, then...sticking until the end shows willpower, but willpower means nothing if there's nothing purposeful behind it. Though perhaps I've just forgotten what smaller purposes are like.

[Forgot, never understood, same thing. She wasn't built with simple goals and ideas in mind, so the significance of them can pass her by quite easily.]

[hellzone]

[ Yoshiko can't help but wrinkle her nose a little bit as Mikumo mentions smaller purposes. She doesn't know much about this lady but it seems like she's implying that their work wasn't purposeful, that Aqours didn't really mean anything.

Which, to nobody's surprise, Yoshiko's kind of miffed about. ]

We had a purpose: getting enough people so that our school would stay open. But we got the announcement that our school would close down halfway through the competition so there technically wasn't any reason for us to keep going. What would you have done in that situation, just gave up?

[ based on Yoshiko's tone of voice, it's obvious that she thinks giving up is a terrible choice. ]

[stargazed]

Of course not. I said it showed willpower, didn't I? [Mikumo spreads her hands in what might be somewhat of an attempt at a placating gesture. She's not the best at being sensitive with people, even though it seems like she's aware she's caused some kind of offense.]

But something like that is so fleeting that it's already passed, so it can't really be called a purpose, can it? Once your competition is finished, what then? Do you know what it is your music will mean then? To you, and to the people you sing for?

[Having been made for the express purpose of saving an entire planetary cluster from a ravaging virus, Mikumo holds purpose in pretty high regard.]

[hellzone]

That's something we would have decided as a group...but then the whole world ending thing happened. [ That puts a damper on the whole 'finding your purpose' thing. ]

I'm still singing here: I like it and it's fun. But I want to wait until more members of our group awaken before we decide on the fate of the group as a whole.

[stargazed]

I don't think that's a bad idea, necessarily, but I think a group works best if you all have individual goals that happen to compliment each other. Otherwise individual wants might cause problems. [An agreement between people is a fine idea, but if anyone has to sacrifice anything for the sake of the group, even if it's something like their own ambition, it can end up causing trouble of a different kind.]

But right now, I imagine we have other things to focus on anyway. [She waves a hand as if to dismiss the subject for the moment.]

[hellzone]

We do, [ Yoshiko agrees, with a little nod. And man, those other things are pretty crazy. She frowns a little before asking, ]

What do you think about this whole 'go back into the past' business?

[stargazed]

It's a little bit surprising. We could cross sections of space in the blink of an eye where I came from, but even then, there wasn't any kind of technology that could send us back in time.

[So while the general level of technology in Nadril isn't really unfamiliar to her, this particular aspect of it is. It's interesting, but that doesn't make it not a bit odd.]