[closed-ish] Signs of love overshadowed by dreams

[pseudonyms]

Who: Everyone who signed up for speed-dating/speed-friending! (and maybe some people who just wander in?)
When: IC Date: 6/9
Where: A large booth at the CERES Academy cultural festival
What: Rise's holding a special event to help bring people together at the cultural festival! This may be chaotic
Rating/Warning: N/A thus far! Rise with a megaphone might be a warning though...


[The cultural festival at the school has been in full-on planning mode for a few weeks. Rise is no exception to the planning and included in the flyers that have gone up is a notice printed on bright pink paper and bold lettering for a very special event.

The booth itself has been set up with a small cluster of tables to accommodate for the amount of people who have been signed up and even for a few last-minute sign-ups. The tables themselves have been decorated with special candles and a tray containing two bowls, two spoons, and a a tray with all the ingredients needed for an ice cream sundae.

At the front of the booth is a collection of heart-shaped name tags with all of the names of each individual whose signed up, along with a number attached. Rise will smile at each person, handing both the name tag and a small envelope to them with instructions not to open it until she says so.

It’s only when everyone has arrived and is crowded inside the booth that she pulls out a megaphone (and really, who gave her that?) and she turns it on.]

Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Cerealia School Speed-Matching event! Meeting people can be really hard here, but don’t worry, we’re making it easy! You’ll see that the tables all have numbers assigned to them. On my count, open your envelopes and see who you’re starting with. When the bell rings, switch partners! Seems pretty simple, huh?

[Nobody gets to get a say in this apparently, but they may see one Yu Narukami who’s sitting on the table behind Rise just watching everyone casual as can be. Why is he wearing glasses? Who knows.]

Okie dokie! Let’s get this show on the road! On your mark…get set…open!

[Hope you’re ready, colonists. Inside each envelope is a starter number for the first match, and also a list of starter questions for asking people about themselves. Some people have lists corresponding with the speed dating route, while others are for the “friends only” route. But wait…what’s that? Some of those lists are crosswired? Your character would try to mingle with everybody and flirt anyway? Well hey. At least people will be talking and mingling.

Oh, and don’t mind the people who may wander in and out of the event. Rise will try to moderator the event to her best ability but hey, she’s pretty social herself. Some people are bound to slip in and out under her watch. Have fun! And remember, beware of the bell! (Or Rise announcing "SWITCH" in a loud voice via megaphone, same thing.)]

[ooc: Hello everyone, welcome to the speed-friending/dating event! Thank you to everyone who signed up; above you’ll see a list of people and numbers for you to pick from! Pick your number and your friend/date by visiting the number generator to randomly pick a number to match your character with! Feel free to post top-levels inviting others to just tag in or tag around, too, without using the RNG. Any questions, please hit me via PM or on plurk at alternatively]

Comments

Nyuu/Lucy

[saudadist]

[ Nyuu ]

[ Meeting new people is always a good thing, Nyuu firmly believes that, but when they call it "dating," she can't help being a bit more nervous than when she thought it was just having a friendly sit-down with people. But! She won't be deterred, and when someone does come to sit down, she's cheerily smiling at them. ]

Ah, h-hi! I'm Nyuu. [ Questions, questions, who even goes first? ] Um...do you have any pets?


[ Lucy ]

[ You'd think that, by now, she'd be used to waking up in strange places. It's something both she and Nyuu tend to do, much to the other's absolute befuddled wondering when the moment occurs. This time, however, someone's sitting across from her, and if that's not a good way to get answers, she doesn't know what is.

Or that's the thought until she notices they're staring at her horns. She can't even say she's surprised. They tend to be what others zoom in on first, but despite being used to it, it continues to ruffle her feathers. ]

...what, do you think they're disgusting? [ Asked with the flattest of stares. ]

nyuu!

[jinko]

[ Alright, Atsushi. You can do this. You've got this. Thankfully, his next friend-date looks like a very sweet, kind person...!

Relaxing in his chair, Atsushi racks his mind for a good way to answer this question. After he introduces himself, of course. ]

Nyuu-san...? It's good to meet you, I'm Atsushi. [ A little smile, for her effort! ] I don't have any pets, no, but— I work with a tiger as part of my job.

[ He hopes this is interesting enough!! A tilt of his head, and he offers: ] Ah, I have pictures of her on my phone too, if you'd like to see her...

[saudadist]

[ He can certainly rest well knowing it's interesting enough to have her jaw go slack. Her eyes are practically shining as she bounces in her seat. ]

A tiger?! That's incredible! [ She stops herself, then, more calmly, continues on. ] M-May I, then? I've only seen a few pictures of them before.

[jinko]

[ Ah, what an endearing reaction...! Atsushi is immediately heartened as he rummages inside his pocket for his CereVice, lays it out on the table between them to scroll through his gallery of tiger pics. ]

Of course...! Her name is Josephine, and she's really gentle, actually...

[ It's a whole bunch of pictures of his alien tiger, who looks identical to an Earth tiger save for the fact that it has a pronged tail and occasionally changes colors. ]

Do you like animals, Nyuu-san?

[saudadist]

I do!

[ She does her best to keep her bounciness in check as she picks up the phone and looks through the pictures. She has to bite her lip to keep back a squeal of delight a couple of times. Something about knowing this tiger is one the person in front of her has actually seen and handled makes it more real to her. More real than the pictures taken for magazines, at least. ]

Ohhh, she's so pretty! I love her tail!

[jinko]

Aha... you can come visit her anytime you like, if you want. We're really lax about visitors.

[ Atsushi is relieved that his friend date seems to be going relatively well, and settles into his chair with less nervous timidity than he had before. Rest in pieces, tigerkid... ]

Um, and if you have any questions about this place, if you're new— I'd be happy to hear those, too.

[saudadist]

[ She pauses in her browsing of the pictures, her expression suddenly going oddly blank, then she smiles again and hands him back the CereVice. She'd ask point blank if she could ever expect to see her friends again, but she's already guessed the answer to that. It'd just ruin the mood to ask anyway. ]

I think I'd like to take up gardening, or perhaps get a pet. Any suggestions on the best place to look into either of those?

can you believe i never got a notif, I'M SO SORRY... FEEL FREE TO IGNORE IF THIS IS TOO LATE

[jinko]

[ He doesn't miss the moment of nothing that flashes across her expression, and he braces himself in his chair to answer something potentially serious or heavy...

...but she recovers, and he has to wonder if she held back for his sake, or her own.

Either way, he feels somewhat badly about it, and he clears his throat. ]

Oh, uh— well, there's a really nice garden near the Residential District! As for pets, there's a lot of CyBuddy shops in the Shopping District. I can definitely help you look for one if you want. They have some pretty crazy things, actually...!

oh naw, it's fine!

[saudadist]

[ A garden, and plenty of pet shops to go looking for an animal. Things are already looking up! Any dog or bird won't be the same as Wanta or Piyopiyo, but she's certain she'd love them anyway. And the companionship is nice to have. ]

"Crazy things?" Like bears?

[jinko]

Mm, I'm pretty sure I saw someone with something that looks like a dragon...?

[ So if she was ever gunning for some crazy medieval beasts or hellhounds to adopt, there we go. Or that might just have been someone's Pokemon, in which case Atsushi will be a Big Fat Liar and disappointing everyone in the process. Whoops. ]

But I think you could technically get a bear, too. This place isn't really strict about what we do...

[saudadist]

[ Dragons, tigers, and bears oh my! are an interesting pet selection, to be sure. Though, Nyuu's not sure she'd really go and get one. A bear must be a chore to clean up after. ]

It's amazing this place has such a variety of pets! I don't think I'd ever really get a bear, but...they do seem very cute. [ Which brings up a thought. ] So...would you feed a bear regular pet food? Or something from the grocery store?

[ This is a real conversation she is having. ]

Lucy!

[good_ideas]

[Shiho is actually almost a little bit embarrassed to be caught staring but she sits back and shrugs with a practiced nonchalance.]

No. [That answer is genuine, at least. There wasn't anything wrong with the horns.]

I was wondering if they're real or if you're just really into cosplay.

Re: Lucy!

[saudadist]

[ The answer is genuine, but she stills looks like she doesn't believe it. Because she doesn't. Humans have said one thing and meant another far too often for her to go blindly believing again. ]

"Cosplay"?

[ The dour look on her face is muddled with confusion. She's never heard of whatever that is, but it sounds weird. ]

[good_ideas]

Yeah, you know, dressing up as your favourite character and taking pictures?

[Apparently Patty does this and got pretty popular on the internet?]

[saudadist]

[ For several more seconds, Lucy just stares at her, and even looks off to the side a couple times before her eyes fall back onto her. That sounds like a thing alright, but... ]

Why?

[good_ideas]

[Shiho has to actually think about this...but comes up with only one answer:]

...maybe you have fun doing it...?

[She doesn't do any cosplaying so she's really not sure.]

[saudadist]

[ She's still not 100% certain on how that could be fun. Humans amuse themselves in weird ways, but she knew this already. ]

I don't do any of that. Doesn't seem interesting.

[good_ideas]

Oh. [Shiho isn't sure what's fun about it either. Maybe it's like dressing up for a drama production or dressing up for parties.]

Then why do you have horns?

[saudadist]

Because I was born with them.

[ There are a number of ways this could go, and Lucy's already mentally preparing herself for them. She's expecting a bad reaction, for her to just get up and leave the table, or just freak out in some general sense. Hell, the way Lucy keeps her eyes locked on her in a steady stare dares her to do any of those. ]

[good_ideas]

[She recognizes that steady stare if only because she's seen it so often in other espers who have gone through discrimination their entire lives and who out themselves with the knowledge that someone who accepts them for what they are is the exception and not the norm.]

Oh.

[Her next words are slower, more careful than before:]

I guess that makes it hard to sleep on your side then, huh?

[saudadist]

[ Despite the disarming comment, she doesn't physically relax for a good few seconds. Even then, it's only her jaw loosening and her leaning back slightly in her chair. ]

Not really. [ They actually kinda point upward and back. It's weird. ]

[good_ideas]

....sorry about the staring. Earlier.

[Minamoto would have been so proud of her for actually managing to apologize for once.]

And the cosplay thing.

[saudadist]

[ She's fully prepared to fire off something snide, but the apology catches her off guard. What's she supposed to say to that? Nobody's ever actually apologized to her for staring or anything like that before. ]

Just...don't do it again.

[good_ideas]

[It's because Shiho would have wanted an apology when she was five years old and found out their babysitter was trying to slip them psychic-power-suppressants in their food. And when she was ten and their supervisor told them to be good and had them wear shock collars like animals. She's long since past the point of thinking anyone will actually give her an apology but that didn't mean she'd begrudge others theirs.]

Of course not!

[saudadist]

[ Regardless of whatever reasons she has, Lucy's pleased. It's strange to hear someone apologize, but it's pleasant too. Something tells her not to get used to it, but then, another part of her chastises her for being so negative. ]

...cosplaying is for that "anime" stuff, right? Or video games...you ever seen any?