Aspen had been to Sakuramori before, of course. It had been a while, though, now that she recalled the last time. The forest of cherry blossoms surrounding the city was famous for its enigmatic trees that, contrary to its normal counterparts, which were only in full bloom for a brief period in spring, would be covered by vibrant pink flowers year-round, something that drew the attention of tourists from all over this nation, and indeed, from some of the others as well, as she had learned. She was passing through essentially by chance today, however, not here to view the cherry blossoms or to play tourist, travelling back to the guild hall of Silver Wolf after just returning from yet another odd job she'd accepted to keep her seemingly perpetually broke self afloat. It wasn't like the fair-haired Slayer was opposed to more dangerous jobs, or to the general bits od treasure hunting that some of her fellow guild mates so readily and often indulged in, but the former was, more often than not, more of an effort than it was worth, and the later was a tad too uncertain for Aspen. Stability and certainty, while things that still seemed very much absent from the Slayer's daily life, were things that the girl valued highly, and yet, for one reason or the other, they always seemed to escape from her. Well, it was what is was. She couldn't force progress, and all of this, being a guild mage in one of Fiore's various Guilds was not a bad hand to be dealt. Certainly better than Pergrande, but that wasn't much of a feat.
Either way, she tried to take her mind off these memories. She was already anxious enough, she didn't need to worry about it again. It came as a rather convenient coincidence that Sakuramori was, compared to its normally so peaceful and quiet state, very much alive and in the middle of a strange festivity tonight. The sun had already gone down, though the lanterns that would normally light the city's roads had been replaced with glowing lights that flashed in an array of bright neon hues, the normally mundane and anything but eccentric populace replacing their usual clothing with strange and very much out of place costumes. Both the mood and the music alike, the girl thought, she couldn't quite relate to, either. Heavy bass thundered through the streets, backed up by strangely distorted sounds that felt like they were generated by unnatural means. Honestly, it it felt more like arbitrary noise than music. The theme, too, was something Aspen had never seen, let alone heard about before. What were these strange get-ups and costumes supposed to represent? An invasion from outer space? She didn't really understand, though felt somewhat out of place in the usual skirt and oversized jacket combo. The one saving grace, though, was that the streets were lined with stalls and stands of all sizes and kinds, offering a variety of weird and otherworldly treats and souvenirs, the Slayer's eyes particularly drawn to a particularly eccentric bar that offered similarly eccentric drinks. She could certainly do with a drink before she went home. It wouldn't be too much of a distraction to stop here, would it? Something to lift her mood a little wouldn't hurt ...
Without much thought, the girl would claim one of the seats, her gaze briefly scanning over the assortment of weird beverages on the menu, all of them cocktails, it seemed, before the bartender, a man who was dressed in an elegant suit, made his way over, though his head and face were covered by something that appeared like a helmet, a display, seemlessly blending in with the rest of the headgear's structure, flashing with neon colors and lights. A voice, distored into robotic sounds would ring out from beneath the helmet as he addressed her. "What can I get you?". Aspen, with her practiced expression that appeared to be the very definition of stoicism and calculated disinterest, would subtly raise an eyebrow, but didn't let herself be bothered by the strange persona that had appeared before her, instead giving back a simple and motonous "Surprise me", based on the lack of her understanding pertaining to any of the offered drinks. Seriously, what the hell was a "Neon Burst" or a "Digital Dillemma" supposed to be? It would've helped if there'd been a list of ingredients for the drinks, at least, but as it was, Aspen had no choice but to accept whatever she'd be given. The bartender hurried off to fumble around with an assortment of ingredients that appeared just as bizarre as the rest of this event, leaving the girl wondering what kind of drink exactly she'd be settled with.
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