Cherry Blossom Evening Party

[wipingallout]

You have received a private message:

Throughout the week, Hamuko has messaged the vast majority of people she's met so far - and eagerly invited them to come meet at Inokashira Park starting at 5pm.

⋆🌸₊˚⊹♡❀˖°🌸⋆

You're invited to an evening sushi-party-turned-hanami-picnic-party! I've organized a bunch of cognitive chefs and performers to come to that park on the listed date/time.

I've sent this to you because you were part of one of the three teams that helped with fighting Fatalis or rescuing Falcon and Wolf (or are Falcon and Wolf themselves!!) - we've all busted our butts a lot lately, so I think we deserve to have something nice together too!

Of course, the party is open if you have any +1s or more. But before spring turns into summer, let's celebrate what we've all accomplished together!




.🌸˚𑁍.ೃ࿔*:･

The Venue...


Inokashira Park has a lovely river and trail and a phenomenal collection of cherry blossom trees. They're in the tail end of their season, filling the air with petals like snowfall.

In a large open area, Hamuko's arranged a ton of picnic blankets for people to claim and sit down on, though each blanket is HUGE to accommodate people sitting with as many people as they can handle! There are cozy pillows for sitting on too, stacked neatly to be borrowed.

There's a truly humongous row of tables laid out with an impressive amount of sushi presented. With a few trucks nearby, it seems there's a few sushi chefs making fresh platters of it to lay out through the night.

Similarly, there are food carts along the trails if you're not in the mood for sushi and would rather have some more traditional fare like dango, taiyaki, matcha, takoyaki... it's got the place lively and smelling fantastic! There's sake for the adults, and some cherry-blossomed themed mocktails for minors.

🌸𓏲 ๋࣭ ࣪ ˖🎐

Activities

There's a few set out activities besides just chowing down and socializing or walking along the lantern-lit trails under the cherry blossoms! Inoshikara Park has always had cute little swan pedal boats or regular rowboats for 'rental' (not that money matters here).

The area is SO pretty, perfect for taking pictures to have as keepsakes. There's even a booth to claim a yukata and privately change into it, if you want to go the extra mile!

Finally, in lieu of a traditional band or modern concert, Hamuko has picked out a large set of speakers connected to a small karaoke stage and screen - menace the party with your sing-along! Get a little boost to your Guts!!

Comments

[lakebrat]

"I am lucky," he agrees. "Not just in having her—I don't know what can have been so different, or what I did to earn that. But in having come to meet my friends—Haru and Makoto and the others. And Ren. And you, Futaba."

[cybermask]

She hummed, back to toying with her plate. "Back to the will of the gods. Your fate was bound to you. That's what makes you different. We are all different versions of each other. We are doomed to see ourselves in each other. We know what should make them tick." And yet, here she was. She always saw herself in them. She more often saw her brother. They were happy. They were... able to continue.

"I'm not saying there's fault in your thinking. But I am saying that I'm not one of them. You saw what Fatalis did to me. I was benched after that. There is no more."

[lakebrat]

And there it is: not the root of the problem, but its nub. A wart on the surface, going deep. "No end to it, you think? To your despair? At all?"

[cybermask]

"I'll be honest." She sighed, her eyes leaving the plate and looking at him, that hazy gaze, the one that had held at least some spark when she killed, the one that held a spark any other time looking at those she dared to call family. "There's nothing there. No despair. Nothing. I am empty."

[lakebrat]

He thinks about that, looking into her hazy eyes; familiar eyes, though the colour is different. The words echo back through time, or ones very like them. "I always rather thought that was what true despair was. Anguish is different. That's at least something. It burns. You feel it. But when everything is taken from you—your dreams, your aspirations, your most simple hopes for tomorrow, or your ability to feel at all...."

[cybermask]

She didn't have too much to say on that. It felt too... strange. "Apathy." She could only guess. "I think despair is suffering. I am not."

[lakebrat]

Yeah, he'll believe that the day Igor sends them all home, with a billion-yen cheque in each of their back pockets for their pain and suffering. "No?"

[cybermask]

"I just exist. People suffer. I cut that emotion out when my mother died. I vowed to not let it control me and get what I needed to do done, for my mother. My end goal was never survival as long as he didn't either."