( open )

[hoasen]

Who: YOU, MY FRIEND & The friendly staff of Thistle Do Nicely, a humble flower shop.
When: IC: 29th January to February 14th (OOC: Starts 3rd July, full month log.)
Where: Thistle Do Nicely, Shopping District.
What: It's nearly Valentine's Day, so there's sales and events! Want to learn how to make chocolate? Look here! Cashing in your coupon for the upcoming Blind Date player event? That's here too! This is a mingle log, so everyone come mingle to your hearts content, and come in anytime, there's no such thing as late.
Rating/Warning: Nothing so far. There might be some future nightmares.

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NOTE: There are some forward-dated prompts/part of prompts in this log. This is to coincide with the Blind Date Player Plot this month! More links and updates will be posted here once they come up.

Also if you wanna know how this works, it's just a mingle! An example here, our previous open mingle log. Treat it however you like, open and closed options welcome.

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Welcome to Thistle Do Nicely! Make yourself comfortable and browse the grand selection. In spirit of upcoming Valentine's Day, the store is decorated in pink and red, hearts scattered here and there. Sweet soft toys are on display, and there are bargains to be found. The tea shop is also decked out, but there seems to be something extra special happening on that side too.


A: ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE DISCOUNTED

[Are you here for the flowers? Sure you are, it's a grand tradition that all Valentines must share: the giving of flowers to loved ones. Roses are a definite favourite, but maybe you're after something more unique? Then look no further! Ask one of your friendly staff about it. Or maybe they're coming to you! But if they do, some may have the misfortunate of being told by the mysterious NPC boss to repeat the following: "What can Cupid's assistant do for you today?" Yeah, it's pretty embarrassing.

Or maybe you've bumped into a friend! In that case, buying flowers for Valentine's Day? Are you proud of this, or are you so embarrassed you must hide all evidence.

Alternatively, time has passed and you're now here because you have coupons for an additional price cut on your flowers if you are taking part in the Blind Date event. Blind dates can be particularly nerve-wracking, so let this store make things a little easier for you. You'll thank them for it.]


B: ANYONE WHO HATES CHOCOLATE IS A MONSTER (no we're kidding we still love you)

B.1: KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

[In all walks of life, chocolate is a very popular gift for Valentine's Day. And in some places, even more importance is placed on whether it's homemade or not. A section of the tea shop has been cleared just for this: earthy tables now have small stoves on them and ingredients set out. It's time to learn how to make chocolate. These classes are lead by head chef Shokudaikiri Mitsutada and his (reluctant) chef's assistant Ookurikara, but you can be sure that all the other reliable staff of Thistle Do Nicely are getting in on the action to help out (or learn themselves) too! Maybe Mitsutada and a handful of staff will make this great. The other half...

Everyone interested in these classes will gather round each of these tables, and together you will learn how to make chocolate. It's a team effort, so discuss with each other and work together to perfect it! In the end, you will be given cute little boxes or bags to put your chocolate in so you can give it to those intended. Or yourself, you can eat them too. Alternatively, you were forced into this mess, or have no idea why you're here but you're going to roll with it because it's chocolate.

The classes are free, happening a couple hours a day, but the ingredients require a small donation to keep the classes going. These classes are ongoing, so by the time you've gotten your Blind Date, you don't have to donate if you show them your coupon.]


B.2 CHOCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

[Or maybe you're not here for the classes, you're spending time on the other half of the tea shop where it's still set for customers. The tea shop half of the entire store is not actually that big, so you might be finding it a bit cramped.

That being said, a treats bar has been set out as a complimentary offer. There's a chocolate fountain in the middle of this bar, and you know you wanna dip some heart shaped marshmallows or fruits in that sucker. There's also these flower shaped gummies. No one actually knows how they got there, but maybe for the sake of science, you want to coat it with chocolate and eat it.

Do it.]


C: WILDCARD.

[Because there's so much more to explore! Or maybe you're just here to visit and laugh at them. Or maybe you wanna use the tea space as a PLACE FOR A DATE, AYYYYYY in which the scene from Lady and the Tramp could happen and there will be a cute musical number (look, I'll have it arranged, I'm not even kidding. Too bad I can't get an Okiayu character to do it though, you might have to make do with a loser girl). Or maybe you've MESSED UP THIS ENTIRE PLACE Vietnam will kill you with her bare hands (unless she likes you, then you will live).]

Comments

[adornmental]

[LOOK. LOOK... WE DON'T TALK ABOUT CANDYLAND. He makes a vaguely indignant sound for being forced to suffer through a sudden remembrance of spending an hour washing frosting off of his boots.

EITHER WAY that also summarily wipes out his desire to save Kogi from himself, so he just crosses his arms and watches as he dips his tofu pocket into the chocolate.]

Tell me if it's any good, yeah?

[He's so sure it won't be. He's SO SURE.]

[aslyfox]

[ GOOD POINT, especially because it took an equally long amount of time trying to chisel off the coconut-chocolate mixture off of his feet, not to mention it ruined some nice sandals and most of his clothing (wow he didn't know how expensive it was to buy those things). ]

It's going to be delicious, don't you worry. [ IT'S FRIED, IT'S CHOCOLATE, how does Kogitsunemaru even lose in this situation?! It's similar to simple math. You know, one plus one equals eat the food.

He'll raise the pocket up to his face, eye it carefully, and then with some hesitation takes a slow and thoughtful bite.

Chew, chew. ]

Hm...

[adornmental]

[Well, he's not spitting it out... That's a good sign, right?? Good for him and his dang chocolate tofu pocket, anyway. All it does for Kashuu is confirm that he's surrounded by people with terrible taste.]

...So? How's the taste?

[WAITING so very patiently because Kashuu is such a patient sword and all.]

[aslyfox]

[ ... it's... not good. Not great. Ah, was it the wrong kind of tofu? Or maybe it was the oil it was fried in. Usually, the aburaage is so delicious but something is just a little off-putting.

It's time to regret life choices. He has to swallow it or at LEAST find a moment to get it out of his mouth. ]

Mmm... hmmm... mmmmmmm...

[ OH. HE CAN'T TALK WITH HIS MOUTH FULL...! Awkward thumbs up? Extremely weak smile? Will Kashuu catch on? Oh no. ]

[adornmental]

[Will Kashuu catch on? OF COURSE. He may be selectively oblivious, but when it comes to the opportunity to tease people, he's always at the top of his game...]

Huh? Is it so good that you don't wanna finish that bite?

[aslyfox]

[ DAMN. Well, time to swallow his pride... at least his pride probably would have gone down better than a mashed combination of two individually tasty foods into what was a slight mistake. ]

Hnng... mmph... [ GULP. ] Yeah, it was delicious. [ Shudder. ] You should try some. Seriously.

[ Inari, being a patron of merchants, probably can't help Kogitsunemaru trying to sell the idea of trying something that COULD BE APPEALING. Maybe. Possibly. Coin flip? ]

[adornmental]

[TERRIBLE, KOGI, JUST TERRIBLE trying to drag poor sweet innocent Kashuu into this mess of a foodmageddon. He just raises a hand in denial and shakes his head...]

No way! You looked like you really liked it, y'know? It'd be totally cruel to take even one bite away.

[muffled internal cashew laughter]

[aslyfox]

[ Internally, a tear drips down the face of Kogitsunemaru's pride. IT COULD HAVE BEEN THE CHOSEN ONE. But no, he'll have to toss the remaining bits into the garbage. Not like Kashuu is contributing to figuring out what tastes good in chocolate.

Well, there are gummy flowers... they certainly look pretty. Wonder if they're any good? ]

Kashuu, why don't you try one of those? [ He'll point at them. They actually look like a dessert and not like a familiar monster. ]

[adornmental]

[Kashuu has no interest in the chocolate fountain, of course he's not contributing!! But it looks like he's going to become part of this circus act anyway...

He glances over toward the gummy flowers, nose wrinkling a little.]

Why me? [Does Kogitsunemaru just not want to be alone in his terrible taste testing experience??] It's waaay too bright to look edible, y'know?

[And yet, he's reaching for one anyway...]

[aslyfox]

[ YES. Do it, Kashuu. Join Kogitsunemaru in Flavor Town and/or Hell! --- though he hasn't tasted one of those flowers yet either, so he'll join the other sword in sizing them up.

Do they have little smiley faces, too? Wow, they're so cheerful and colorful. So yes, eating them must happen. ]

I'll try one if you do.

[ They can't possibly taste that bad. They're innocent flower gummies! ]

[adornmental]

[He'll pluck a second one right up and hold it out to Kogitsunemaru, in that case! If they go down, they go down together.]

Here!

[AND SO HIS FATE IS SEALED but honestly, he'd take a smiley-faced, brightly colored flower gummy over a tofu pocket any day. So he's picking out a skewer, jamming the gummy onto the end and then dunking it into the chocolate. He can already predict one thing...]

This is gonna be way too sugary.

[aslyfox]

[ Ride and die together. Bam. A fist bump would be pretty darn appropriate right about now. When Kogitsunemaru and Kashuu get together, it's like the air is filled with bad ideas and mistakes and HONESTLY IT'S PRETTY AWESOME...! ]

No regrets. It's not like sugar can kill us. [ He'll stab his flower in the face and dip half of it into the chocolate. No way the glaze will harden on the gummy, so he'll just make sure it doesn't drip on his clothes. ]

We'll be fine. [ And it'll probably taste one hundred percent better than the choco-tofu experiment. He took one for the team. Someone's team, somewhere. ]

[adornmental]

[IT'S ONLY AWESOME BECAUSE THEY MIRACULOUSLY HAVEN'T DIED YET which is honestly awesome in and of itself.]

Yeah, yeah, but it might not taste good.

[Even if anything would probably taste better than choco-tofu. Except maybe like, green beans or brussel sprouts or something... But with his hand cupped under his own gummy to keep the floor safe, he glances over.]

On the count of three?

[aslyfox]

[ CAN'T STOP, WON'T STOP. ]

Can't hurt to try. I can't imagine our master repairing us after sugar-related injuries.

[ At this point as long as it doesn't try to kill him, everything will be great. A vegetable would be nice to eat right about now... as long as it's not covered in chocolate. That'd be a new level of gross that Kogitsunemaru is not prepared for. ]

Alright, on three. One... two... three!

[ ... he is now aware of his teeth. ]

[adornmental]

[SUGAR-RELATED INJURY REPAIR. That would be more embarrassing than Hotarumaru needing repairs after being chewed on by a fish.

But at the final number of the countdown, Kashuu glances over once just to be sure Kogitsunemaru won't cheat, and then pops the chocolate gummy into his mouth. ...NOPE.]

It's bad! This is bad—!

[He's still chewing it, though?! Mostly because it's not cute to spit food out... And it's not bad to the point of being intolerable, either. IT'S JUST... NOT WHAT HE EXPECTED. Gummies are weird, it's like eating plastic fruit!! Plastic chocolate-dipped fruit!]

[aslyfox]

[ Cheating is below Kogitsunemaru. The fact that Kashuu WOULD EVEN THINK THAT FOR A SECOND unknowingly breaks the little fox's heart... or maybe it's the gummy candy that isn't actually getting less chewy or easier to eat. The mixture is weird and it's so sweet, he could almost hear his teeth sobbing and his tongue wishing for sweet, sweet release. ]

It's pretty awful. [ And he really REALLY wants to spit it out where it belongs--- in the garbage! But Kogi can't stop trying to eat it because this is where he can beat Kashuu. If he gets rid of the candy first, the fox wins. ]

[adornmental]

[Gummies are a struggle: Lessons learned in Cerealia. Why do they have to learn everything the hard way like this?? Going through life as a dingus sure is hard.]

Mmmh— [That's definitely a noise of irritation, but Kashuu is trying to powerchew his way through!! It's easier said than done... After a few seconds of fruitless labor, he stomps one foot on the ground like a petulant 5 year old. THIS IS GROSS.]

[aslyfox]

[ Think going through life as a dingus is hard? How about being the one that gets caught up in the dingus lifestyle and is slowly being converted into it? He didn't choose this life!

Kogitsunemaru will chortle, laughing at the stomps and trying to hold back. ]

You could just... spit it out. No one will know. [ He says this in between chews, still furiously trying to break down the gummy candy, though he's slowly becoming convinced that this wasn't supposed to be eaten... otherwise, someone at the flower shop needed a stern talking to. ]

[adornmental]

[Anyone who gets dragged into the dingus lifestyle had the potential to be a dingus from the start okay, the dingus was there all along.]

No way! That's super gross.

[Even more gross than sitting here in chocolate gummy hell, apparently... But after a few more seconds of chewing, he's got to know:]

Is yours even chewable? Like, is chewing it actually doing anything?

[aslyfox]

[ Kogitsunemaru will require a Dingusectomy later. Hopefully there's a surgeon who can perform this incredibly difficult procedure later, and do it painlessly.

Alternatively, he'll just eat all the fried tofu at the restaurant again, get sent to time out, and then feel better. ]

No... it's not going away... [ He might tear up a bit because THIS IS REALLY ODD. WHY. WHY DO THESE THINGS ALWAYS HAPPEN--- oh yeah, the Dingus Effect. It's like the Butterfly Effect, but with swords. ]

[adornmental]

[EMBRACE THE DINGUS LIFESTYLE, KOGI. Ending up in time out multiple times over tofu is basically part of the dingus life anyway...]

No point in trying anymore, I guess.

[Which makes it sound like he's going to cave and spit it out BUT NO. Instead, he just swallows his gross mouthful of half-chewed flower gummy and chocolate.]

[aslyfox]

[ NO, HE MUST... RESIST...!!! Though Kogi is really surprised that Kashuu would just... do that. It'll live with him for almost forever, like gum! Smiley flower faces for eternity. ]

You're right. [ And he too, will swallow it down, choking slightly on the texture but he must follow the now-appointed leader of the dinguses. Ech. Why would anyone put those out for consumption in the first place, didn't they have taste testers or something... ]

[adornmental]

[IT WAS EITHER THAT or look totally undignified spitting it into a napkin or perhaps the nearest potted plant!! He had to make a sacrifice and that sacrifice was his stomach.]

...We did it, at least? Like, we should totally reward ourselves for sitting through that.

[The King Dingus has spoken...]

[aslyfox]

[ Not even a plant deserves to taste (or chew) the rubber candy. WHY WOULD YOU SUBJECT IT TO SUCH HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE THINGS?! ]

I agree. A reward is in order.

[ He pauses, looks back at the bag of tofu he brought, and eyes the chocolate fountain. Is it time to try it again? ]

Maybe it'll taste better the second time?...

[ Stop him, he's out of control. ]

[adornmental]

[HE WOULDN'T!! That's why he subjected himself to it instead, okay... What a brave, selfless warrior.

But Kogitsunemaru is clearly suffering some sort of mental after-effect of having eaten that gummy, wow. It's a good thing Kashuu is here to rudely help him.]

Hey, did you hit your head on the way in here or something? Don't do that. If you eat more than one, you're definitely gonna die.