OPEN💗 LATE VALENTINE'S DAY PARTY

[peoplewatch]

WHO: Newbies, oldbies, everyone is welcome!
WHAT: A Late Valentine’s Party mingle, since Valentines’ Day was over Kaiju month…
WHERE: “MANTRA”, an underground, alternative club in Neo Toyko
WHEN: March 10th
WARNINGS: Romance and shippy things, alcohol, hookah, suggestive things. Anything NSFW is to be appropriately labelled.

Around the 10th of March, Outsiders will receive a message in their ocular inbox from Kabru, the Outsider also known as @ rasgulla. The message reads:

“To my dearest friends and teammates,

If we haven’t met before, call me Kabru. When not on missions as an Outsider, I work as a freelance event planner for various businesses and private organizations within Neo Tokyo.

Valentines’ Day is a popular holiday in Japan that was sadly interrupted last month by the kaiju. My current client is holding a belated Valentines’ Day event and they would really like the Outsiders to come. There will be plenty of food and things to do. Even if you're not looking for a romantic time, I'd encourage you to come!

Please wear something comfortable. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Yours sincerely,

Kabru.”



A location pin comes attached with the invitation. It looks like Kabru’s become more adept at technology over the months.

Follow the location pin and you’ll find yourself in front of ‘Mantra’ in metro Tokyo, an underground, alternative club making waves for its uniqueness in the club scene. Outsiders will all be allowed in without much fuss. The owner of the club is a gentle woman who kindly requests that all guests take their shoes off and leave them at the side. There is a lingering scent of incense and the people hanging out in the club look remarkably calm as they relax; cuddling and enjoying each other’s company. What kind of Valentine’s day party is this? A New Age, alternative kind, apparently. The owner of the club wants to be promoting togetherness in a completely different way.

Thankfully, finger foods and alcohol appear to be abundant, even if Kabru would really like you to be mingling with the people! There is a bar with free flowing wines and spirits, and a table with hors d'oeuvres and small desserts as accompaniment. These can include sushi rolls, small sandwiches, crab cake bites, small skewers, chocolates, little cakes and tarts. Food aside, there is live music playing and guests are highly encouraged to dance.

Naturally, couples are also coupling up, but anything too raunchy is of course cordoned off to a private room. Also, ignore the people smoking electronic hookah at the side…

What can you do besides eat and drink?

1. DANCING 💗

The DJ mostly plays trance and synth pop music in the background but he’s happy to take requests. On the dancefloor,there’s always a group of tipsy guests dancing their hearts out, some dancing alone and others dancing as a couple. There’s no right or wrong way to dance and most people will not cast judgement. Give it a try? Better hurry, before some of the overeager guests try to drag you in.

2. CUDDLE PILE 💗
Numerous cushions are set out around the venue for guests to lounge in and cuddle. It’s highly encouraged, in fact! Especially after a vigorous dance session. There are people lying together in larger groups, and couples choosing to spend their time lounging and enjoying each other’s company. Finding it difficult to relax? The owner might give you a whiff of her special perfume that’s guaranteed to put you in a state of complete calm. It might even make you more open about lying together with someone else.

3. SPEED DATING 💗

There’s a speed dating round going on in one side of the club. Guests are numbered and paired up randomly, then given a short amount of time to get to know each other on a speedy little date. Don’t know what to say? A list of questions will flow in through the oculars to give you a prompt. (Please refer to here and here for some examples or make up your own!)

4. MAKE SWEET TREATS 💗

In the spirit of Valentines’ Day, the owner of the club is hosting a quick desserts-making workshop at the event. Guests will be provided with ingredients and taught to make chocolate or cupcakes, and they will get the chance to decorate it however they like. It’s highly encouraged to make something to give to your sweetheart or the person you admire. Do you really want to be the person eating their own chocolate on Valentines’ Day?

5. PARTY GAMES 💗

What’s a party without party games? Throughout the night, people will be getting drunk and playing local drinking games such as the King’s Game. Eventually, other games from the West get introduced by other people. These games include Truth or Dare, Spin the Bottle and 7 Minutes in Heaven.

6. TAKE SOMEONE HOME 💗

If it looks like you're having a pretty good time with someone else, a helpful robot will approach you and provide you both with a key to a private room. Some of these private rooms are normal and some are themed, similar to a love hotel. There's no need to actually do anything raunchy of course. You could just cuddle up and enjoy the warmth of the digital fireplace! Everything one might need for a nice time together (condoms, lubricant etc) will be readily available.

As the event planner, Kabru will be buzzing around and making sure everything runs smoothly, but he can be stopped for questions or concerns (pls be nice to him he has anxiety). Characters can sit out of anything they want, but drunk and overeager guests might decide to drag them in.

[ OOC: I put this up so everyone can enjoy a chill mingle after the chaos of last month! And also because we didn’t get the opportunity to have do much for Valentines’ Day given the timing. Naturally, please label any NSFW, add your content warnings appropriately, and state your boundaries and preferences in terms of shipping/gen/being tagged by younger/older characters. ]

Comments

[kaizou]

Ha, the Nebulans are way too bitter for that!

[There were practical reasons, of course. Incompatible biological needs would have made that a struggle for everyone involved, and for what benefit to humanity? That alone was plenty of reason to hide behind and justify not even trying to come to an agreement. But was it the only reason? Even the main reason? Gigan doesn't think so, even if "his" people—not his people, truly, but the dominant species on his planet—wouldn't have openly admitted to the darker one.

But Gigan had known that species since their conception. He could never speak to them, but he understands them, he thinks, and he Knows.]

My Masters who invaded Earth to take it from humans aren't the same people who wrecked our planet! They came after them . . . they evolved in those conditions. They modified me so I could live in them too even after all the other monsters like me died off. But it's too messed up for even them to survive on it that much longer. They got born on a planet that's gonna kill them all, and they aren't even the ones who made it like that. Their fate was decided tens of thousands of years before they even existed!

[Cool motive, still murder, but isn't it just a cool motive, though? Gigan spreads his hands in a shrug. He has no real personal fondness for the Nebulans, either species of Nebulan for that matter, but he can understand their helpless anger.]

They'll never get revenge on those people who did that to our world. So maybe they wanna take that out on someone who reminds 'em of them instead.

[photosympathies]

Oh.

( It comes out a little soft, a little sad, too much understanding in it. It sounds like something his brother would say, Millions Knives, who hates all of humanity for the things that a few have done. The scientists that tormented their sister are long dead, he's sure of it, lost in the Fall, but that has done nothing to abate Nai's anger. It rests like a poison inside of him.

Does. Did. )

Yeah, I've heard that kind of thing before. ( A little deflated, but persevering. ) What about you though? Do you believe that's the way to do things? Take your anger out on the people who didn't do anything to you?

( Weighty for the place they're in, but then that's just how it is. )

[kaizou]

[A perfectly normal first date conversation, truly. But what matters is that Gigan is enjoying it—at least, that's all that matters to him. The weight of it doesn't dent his mood; to him, it's just interesting to talk about. It isn't that he doesn't notice the air going out of Vash at the revelation. Of course it would! People get upset about this stuff, don't they, and that's just fine. That's what makes people worth knowing.

So he does actually take his answer seriously, even though he doesn't exactly struggle with either it or the topic, giving it straightforwardly.]

There's no "the" way to do things. Just all the ways people do do things! The Nebulans were just trying to survive, and so were the humans who fought back against us and stopped 'em. Then the Seatopians borrowed me to try again a year later . . . they were just trying to survive, too. And the humans who stopped 'em that time were just trying to survive! Anyone's got the right to do that. Most of the time, everyone surviving together just the same without anyone having it worse off is just temporary. It's always gonna get to a point where someone decides someone else needs to die to fix that.

[photosympathies]

But it doesn't have to. ( Dogged optimism again, the way he usually is. There's something in his voice, a particular strained edge. He's not exactly pleading with Gigan, he knows that wouldn't do anything - but the universe at large? Maybe. One of these days something will listen to him out there in the cosmos, he's sure of it. ) I think that's what I never can get. Why it always has to be us or them, you know? If everyone's trying to survive then why not work together for the solution? Why does it have to be violence?

( He sighs, one elbow on the table, dropping his chin into his palm. )

Sorry, I'm not - this always comes up, you know? It doesn't matter if it's humans, or if it's plants, or if it's kaiju. And no one ever stops to try and figure it out. I kind of hate that even outside of No Man's Land I'm no closer to figuring those things out.

[kaizou]

I already knew you're that kinda guy!

[The pacifist kind, who wants to work everything out. Even if Gigan hadn't gotten some inkling of this from Meryl, it would have been clear by now after what he's seen from Vash. Of course he feels this way. And of course it always comes up, because of course not many other people do, no matter what they claim.

He spreads his hands, leaning his elbows casually on the table in front of him.]

It's no good for me if you ever figure it out, but I'll still be impressed if you do. I never met anyone who has! The Nebulans believed in absolute peace and harmony too, but in the end, they decided they'd only ever get it if they got all the humans outta the way first.

[In the words of the wise man Aesop Rock: Kill every motherfucker but me.]

[photosympathies]

( A grimace.

Part of him still wants to argue, strangely combative in his arguing for peace. But Gigan isn't the one to blame here, he reminds Vash more of a foot soldier than anyone pulling the strings. There's even a vague Wolfwood-esque air to him, which means he's reluctant to poke or prod. )

Yeah, okay. At least that's not going to happen here. ( A crooked kind of grin that doesn't exactly reach his eyes. ) Well. ( Transylvania. ) I hope it doesn't.

( And then, more forcibly, because this is a party. )

What's your favourite kind of snack?

[kaizou]

Haha! What, you didn't like how our date was going? I thought it was pretty fun.

[He did, because he's just Like This, without any concern whatsoever for the vibe. If it's interesting, he'll pursue it. Unfortunately for Vash, he is quite interesting. Gigan reaches across the table to give him a jolly, too-hard smack on the shoulder, all undeterred friendliness.

And sure, he can even answer that, too.]

I can't taste all that good, so I like stuff that feels fun to eat more than I think about the flavor. It's best if you can really bite into it! Like those squishy balls they make out of rice and beans! Or the big bread full of meat.

[Daifuku and manapua, words he's never bothered to learn.]

[photosympathies]

( He sways with it, lifting a hand to rub his shoulder. But Gigan doesn't seem upset by his impromptu topic change, which helps. Vash doesn't want to offend him. He'd prefer he made more friends here than not. And he knows his peacekeeping stance isn't for everyone. )

Oh, more texture then? Do you like crunchy or just specifically squishy? The mochi are good though. I had ice-cream ones. They were a lot more firmer than the normal kind, and they kind of hurt my teeth a little, but they were pretty tasty. Just don't eat them too fast, otherwise your brain will hurt.

( The dreaded freeze. )

[kaizou]

Why would your brain hurt from eating too fast?

[Guess who's never experienced a brain freeze before! There's still so much Gigan hasn't done in his human body. So many poor decisions left to make. Since he's never made this one, he interprets this as the more metaphorical kind of brain hurt, like . . . is it possible to be too stupid to eat fast??? Do humans have that issue? Well, if it's possible to be too stupid to do something, he is self-aware enough to know he probably meets the criteria.]

I wanna try this.

[photosympathies]

I don't know, but it did! Hiyori said so, and she's a doctor so I guess I gotta believe her, you know? She knows things like that.

( But Gigan wants to try it, so. )

We could go find somewhere selling ice-cream right now. If you want.

[kaizou]

You wouldn't rather go lie down with a bunch of strangers?

[Ha. This one is a joke; he nods over in the direction of one of the larger cuddle piles around the venue with a big grin. Lying around cuddling with strangers sounds like a good time to Gigan, but he has a feeling that isn't Vash's style. And in any case, it doesn't sound better than going to get ice cream.]

[photosympathies]

H-ha. Not really? Not that it doesn't sound nice! But I'm not dressed for cosy cuddling.

( A little bit of a lame excuse, but he thinks it sounds better than explaining his complicated relationship with physical proximity and how much he does not deserve comfort! So smiling brightly it is. )

I'm buying! We should try out a bunch of sprinkles too.