Love or Lamentation? [Valentine Event]

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm walking into a trap?"

Goethe Ackermann slowed down to a stop, as his eyes took in the lavish setting before him. Everything was dazzling in hues of red, white and pink. There was a myriad of love shaped balloons: some had been positioned in massive clusters at many points of interest, others had been strewn across the pathways, and still there were many more floating in the gentle breeze. There was a soft song wafting on the wind; something romantic to put couples "in the mood". Goethe's expression had been blank, but now, a suspicious frown was slowly creasing his eyebrows.

"This isn't a pilgrimage site, Arnie. Start explaining."

The tawny owl on his shoulder looked forward without uttering a sound, but Goethe could clearly hear the goddess' voice in his thoughts, as if she was speaking out loud. Of course, only he could hear her.

"Of course this is an important site. Do you think that sentient beings are not a part of nature, simply because they are not driven solely by instinct?"

Goethe sighed. "I expected something more... 'foresty'."

"Life is life, Goethe, and all of it is sacred. This gathering of so many people is sure to leave a psychic impression on this area. That is enough to make it a sacred site, even if it's temporary."

"Like we couldn't pick a market... like the one in Hargeon. Or Motor City." His eyes twinkled at the thought of the technological town.

The owl made a rumbling sound of sorts; Goethe knew it was a sign of exasperation. "Walk around and enjoy yourself for goodness' sake, young man!"

"As her worship commands," Goethe said with a roll of his eyes, and proceeded into the cheerfully beautified city. Hands in the pockets of his hooded jacket, the young man walked leisurely, taking in the sights and sounds. Most people here were in pairs, though there were small groups of people also chattering away merrily or engaging in some of the activities. He had to admit, whichever company was responsible for hosting this event had really outdone themselves. He was impressed, but of course, his face refused to betray his emotions.

"Such a large gathering of people, with their mates, too."

"Good for them, I suppose."

"Don't you feel like walking hand in hand with a pretty girl, whispering sweet things to each other? This place seems to encourage that. Besides, I think it will be good for you."

Goethe scoffed. "As if!"

"Well, let's make it happen!"

The realization hit Goethe a second too late, and as he opened his mouth in protest, the owl spread her wings and regally took flight. Goethe's outfit changed in a series of twinkling flashes into something more formal: he found himself in a blazer jacket, buttoned long-sleeved shirt, pants and dress shoes. And all, save the shirt, which was white, were of a rich burgundy color. Oh, he also was in a tie.

"Come back here this instant, Arnie!" Of course, she could hear his thoughts too, if he let her, but even if she heard, she did not return. The owl instead perched herself in the branches of a large tree laden with pink flowers, and watched him. Goethe growled. He would have liked to shake his fist at the bird, but he couldn't risk people thinking he had gone nutty. So, he turned sharply, intending to walk straight through the Rose Garden and be on his not-so-merry way, and reached to yank the tie off his neck. At least, that would be his act of vengeance against Arnoba for setting him up like this.

And he walked straight into someone with enough force to knock himself, if not the other person, down.

Oh yes, Goethe Ackermann's woes were just beginning.

Valentine celebrations. Another of Fiore's very colorful festivals. If there was one thing Suzhen was quite pleased about, as far as Fiore was concerned, it was its variety and exuberance of its festivals. Back home in Dongxia, there were only a few major festivals, although the lavish style with which they were celebrated was enough to take one's breath away. Fiore had a lot more festivals, and the average Dongxian would remark, albeit with a kind, yet patronizing, smile, that it was because Fioreans were lazy that they had so many celebrations. Suzhen was not above engaging in such hypocrisy from time to time, but today, she was certainly not going to make a single berating comment about the scene before her. It was the definition of grand. Of course, that Suzhen was partial to the color pink only served to make her a lot more biased towards the celebrations.

She walked down the road in a brisk, yet jaunty fashion, playing a mental game of acuity by trying to take in as many details as she could while moving along at a relatively decent pace, especially the outfits of the people around her. Most were dressed in casual clothes, with some white here and some red there. Suzhen, for her part, being the pedantic individual she was, had researched enough to be familiar with the colors to put on. Today, she had decided to tone down a bit on her usually shocking (to the more prudish members of society) fashion sense, seeing as her major objective was observation and data collection, not being the object of observation. So she had put on a white, long-sleeved, snugly-fitting turtleneck sweater, a fuchsia-colored pleated skirt that bordered on scandalous in its dimensions, and high-heeled boots of a matching color. Being thus clad, she proceeded to take in the sights and sounds of Rose City at its finest.

Of course, it was impossible to be in the middle of a celebration of love and not feel yourself moved in a way, especially if you had had your heart clutched before by love's sharp claws. Sharp, because Suzhen had ambivalent feelings about falling in love again. She wouldn't mind finding a special someone; okay, she felt she really would like to. But there was the feeling of fear that such a person would only end up being put in the line of danger, like her last sweetheart had been. That memory was rather painful to remember.

It was the realization of the pain of the memory that caused the Dongxian scholar to realize that she was no longer engaging in data collection, and had zoned out while walking. Before she could rectify the situation, she had walked headlong into some innocent bystander. If the bystander had been standing still, perhaps the drama of collision might have been minimized. However, he was also walking, so the indigo-haired scholar found herself with her seat firmly planted on the terra firma, and rose petals descending slowly and dramatically around her. Was this part of the city's magic, to make accidents even appear romantic? If that was the case, perhaps she would try a few harmless practical jokes and see how romantic they came off. Oh, she had knocked someone down too. It was quite discourteous to forget that.

She sprang to her feet and bowed apologetically at the silver-haired fellow in the burgundy suit. "Forgive my stupidity," she said, as she made a very quick, yet formal, bow. "I wasn't looking where I was going." She held out a hand to help the stranger up, before noticing how much taller he was than she. "Hope you aren't hurt...."


WC: 611 words

Asher’s home village didn’t celebrate Valentine's Day, so he was a bit out of his depth to say the least. There weren’t any festivals at all around this time in the village, February usually being on of the hardest months of winter thus people spent their time in their warm homes, crafting useful things for the coming spring. They definitely didn’t have a day celebrating love. Not that Asher minded, he loved love! The festive part was the foreign concept, mostly when there was less likely to be festivals compared to private dates? A few of his guildmates went out of their way to explain Valentines Day to him, but only managed to make the Demon Slayer sad since he didn’t have a significant other to spend it with, give chocolates and flowers to, or to fight over a supposedly much-revered table at a fancy hotel to the death. Thankfully a few other softer spoken guildmates noticed his distress and explained that Valentine's Day could be spent with people you love in general, not just romantic partners, or just to celebrate the concept of love. That made Asher feel better at least, though the traditions around a non-romantic Valentine's Day seemed less fun. He had already given hand-made cards and chocolates to Gaia, Rainer, Victoria, Mai Kenna, and Maddox, and supposedly that was it. Well, he had made some special chocolates for Itori, but he asked her best friend Kenna to deliver them instead since he was too embarrassed. All Asher could do was pout, non-romantic Valentine's Day seemed much less fun than the romantic version.

He ended up complaining a bit to Maddox when he delivered his chocolates to the masked man in Rose. “Oh, poor puppy dear~.” He had said with a laugh, causing Asher to pout further. “Oh don’t be pouty, at least your not in Maddox’s shoes, we have the world's worst Valentine. But you are in luck, there’s a festival being held here in Rose Garden that anyone can join who isn’t a wanted criminal (why in the world did he bring that up?) and no lover needed! And maybe you can find yourself a little love kitty~ ohohohoho~!” Maddox finished to Asher’s confusion. He wasn’t planning on adopting a cat after all. The other man just laughed his weird laugh again, promised to give Asher a White Day Gift in return (while refusing to explain what weird tradition that was) and left to go on his ‘worst date ever. Asher could only shake his head; his friend was weird. But given some good advice on occasion. He loved festivals!

Making he was to the center of town where the festival was surely happening, glad he was dressed casually in a thick white sweater over his family armour, his dark blue cape used as a scarf. That alongside stiff black pants called jeans recently introduced to him and brown snow boots almost made the pointy-eared albino look normal for once. As long as he didn’t hug anyone you could never tell he still wore armour under his clothes. According to his guildmates that was almost as good as taking off the Brighward armour, but not as good.

But he was starting to regret not wearing pink, because wow, he could see a theme here. And there was so much to do! He was honestly feeling a bit overwhelmed, with all the glamorous decorating’s, great smelling food (despite there being too many sweets), and fun-looking games. He was so distracted that while eating some (thankfully not sweet) soft served ice cream, Asher almost got barrelled over by what looked like two people running into each other. “A-are you guys okay?!” He asked, clearly startled as the beautiful woman picked herself off of a handsome man. Thankfully he scuttled away in the nick of time, but with the fluttering rose petals and the light streaming through the trees, even someone as love-dumb as him could see this situation was rather romantic. Oh dear, was he interrupting a date? Sheepishly he tried to back away but was then greatly startled by a loud, random noise that sounded to be coming from right on his shoulder. It caused Asher to yell in surprise and up a hand to that ear. Unfortunately, that hand was also holding his green tea ice cream, and the jerking reaction of his surprise caused it to sail toward the air. Landing right on the man’s trousers, splattering green ice cream all over him and a bit on the woman. For a moment Asher just stood in horror, then quickly descended into blabbering “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, oh no!” A few times before summoning some glowing, holy water “Please let me clean you up!” The Ocean Demon Slayer begs, utterly apologetic, red puppy eye’s going full-blown.

WC: 803

One moment, Goethe was glaring at a tawny owl, the next moment, he found himself flat on his back. Yes, he had collided with someone, but it wasn’t the force of the contact that laid him out like that. No, it was a series of unfortunate events that happened to happen to him at the not-so-right time. You see, on bumping into the victim of Goethe’s carelessness, he quickly tried to swerve to the side to mitigate the impact of him crashing into the person. In doing that, he only succeeded in nearly barreling into someone else. Twisting his body in the nick of time, he got out of the way...  and only too late did he realize that he was face to face with a thick pole, and moving too fast to stop. A dull thud later, the white haired boy was staring at the sky, a small bruise on his forehead and his brain singing.

”Yeah; this love thing is certainly not for some people. This is what I get for wandering into such a dangerous zone without ample preparation...”

Goethe almost laughed at himself. What sort of “ample preparation” was required for a Valentine event? But then, it seemed that nature (and wasn’t Arnoba a goddess of nature?) had a fine way of trying to make him look ridiculous whenever anything related to love was concerned. Well, he had to salvage the situation. And that would begin by getting up.

As he sat up, he noticed that the person he had bumped into was a young woman, a few years his senior, if judging by her looks. He was still barely more than a child, according to many, and so most people outside tended to be older than him. Still, she was a rather fetching lady, a work of art, in his opinion. She was apologizing and offering him a hand. So polite, too. Goethe had heard people tell that most people let their beauty get into their heads, and as such were rather nasty and uncivil. But this lady... she was...

His cheeks flushed red.

”Ah... no. It’s okay. I should be the one apologizing,” he replied, as he took her hand and let her help him to his feet. This was embarrassing. He had always heard of those “bumping into each other” stories, and it was usually the man who helped the woman up. He held the gaze of those emerald green eyes for a second, then looked away. People said it was rude to stare. Taking a deep breath, and letting it out slowly, he ran a hand through his hair. ”Sorry for knocking you down like that. I wasn’t paying attention myself...”

Come to think of it, he had heard someone asking if the both of them were okay, after the not-so-graceful crash-landing, and being a courteous person as much as he could help it, he turned to reassure the concerned passerby that the both of them were fine, for the most part. And then a loud noise interrupted everything, most likely someone causing feedback by standing too close to a loudspeaker with a microphone. The sound startled the young man Goethe’s eyes had just rested on, who fumbled with his ice cream and got most of it all over Goethe’s pants. Goethe looked down at the mess, then slowly up at the ‘culprit’, who first stared, horrified, then almost broke down, expressing his regret. What with his profuse apologies, Goethe could not be offended with the boy. Instead, breaking character a little, he patted the boy on the head gently, as he replied with a lazy smile: ”No biggie. Even the best of us slip up, sometimes.” Normally, he would have liked to be a just a little standoffish, being around people he was just meeting for the first time, but he knew that it might be misinterpreted as cold anger and pride.

The youngster in the sweater would find no need to use his glowing water, as the splashes of ice cream suddenly evaporated into nothing, and whatever had splattered on the violet-haired lady was also taken care of, along with any dust or dirt accrued from the fall. ”Glowing liquid? Could it be...?” Goethe wondered silently. In a moment, the both of them were clean and tidy, like they had just put on freshly laundered clothes.

”Thank you, Arnie.”

The owl suddenly descended from the tree, and perched herself on the young man’s shoulder. ”Let down your hair around these people, Goethe,” Arnie spoke in his head. ”This might be the start of a good, healthy friendship. And don’t bother including me, really. Four is a crowd, and I might just get in the way, bossing you about.” Something was amusing Arnoba, but Goethe would not venture to ask, because he knew she wouldn’t tell him. Best thing to do was to make the best of the situation.

”So, pleased to meet you both,” Goethe said to the both of them, with a formal bow. ”I’m Goethe, and that’s Arnoba,” he said, gesturing to the bird on the albino’s shoulder. ”I think she likes you or something.” Goethe was not sure of the reason Arnoba had decided to perch on the boy, but he was sure she wanted to keep an eye on him and amuse herself watching his reactions. That was only partially true. Arnoba had felt the forest on the boy, and she felt he might be a kindred spirit.

”So, now we’re here, we might as well, uh... hang out, right?” Goethe ventured. Truth was, he didn’t really have anything to say, but wanted to be friendly, as the other white haired boy might still feel awkward about dumping his ice cream on them. Besides, there was something he had noticed about this boy, something that interested him, and if he got to be on friendlier terms, he could ask him about it.

Suzhen was obliquely aware that the collision between herself and the silver-haired stranger may have been worse, seeing as a third person had almost joined in the embarrassing accident. It had been somewhat amusing to see how the silver-haired fellow attempted to avoid plowing into the... other silver-haired fellow, before turning into a pole and landing flat on his back. Mentally chiding herself for laughing at another person's misfortune, she helped him to his feet and smiled in response to his apology. The boy's cheeks seemed flushed. It was probably because of the weather, or so Suzhen hoped, as her green eyes were momentarily held by his indigo eyes, before he broke eye contact. He had rather striking eyes, even if it was a little daunting to have them fixed on someone for an extended period of time.

Suzhen was beginning to feel some warmth in her cheeks, when an alien sound suddenly erupted, causing most of the people nearby to react in alarm. The other white-haired fellow involuntarily flung the ice cream in his hand, in a bid to block his ears, and most of the dessert spattered on the indigo-eyed fellow's pants. A few splashes of the ice cream were smattered across Suzhen's white sweater, but she wasn't too concerned about herself. The fellow in the formal burgundy getup seemed to be having a horrid day. The ice cream bearer was understandably very flustered, apologizing over and over. It was cute in a way, and Suzhen found herself feeling pity for both white-haired fellows. The ice cream bearer summoned a mass of glowing liquid; probably water, but Suzhen was not willing to jump to any conclusions based on observation alone. The water she was familiar with did not glow. As she stared at the fulminating liquid with interest, all the ice cream stains vanished and everyone was clean and good, even as Indigo Eyes gently dismissed the ice cream bearer's concerns. The Dongxian maiden gasped audibly, her eyes flitting from her own sweater to the formally dressed guy's clothes.

"Incredible!" she exclaimed, a mixture of shock and excitement brightening her features. "I'm not going to ask how it was done; trade secret, I imagine, but wow." Suzhen watched as a tawny owl descended in graceful flight and alighted on the ice cream bearer's shoulder. Apparently, the owl belonged to the one who had just introduced himself as Goethe. Suzhen bowed twice, first to Goethe, then to the crimson-eyed boy and Arnoba together. "Pleased to meet you, Goethe. Pleased to meet you, Arnoba. And pleased to meet you, noble Bearer of the Green Ice cream." She grinned brightly, glad that the uncomfortable moments were past. "I am Scholar Bai Suzhen, but Suzhen will just do nicely, I suppose."

After the round of introductions, and Goethe's suggestion to 'hang out', though it seemed he wasn't sure on how to do that, Suzhen just stood and watched the two young men, an expectant grin on her face, as she turned to observe one and then the other, every couple of seconds. Then she said, "there is quite some notable difference in the structures of your zygomatic arches and supraorbital ridges, but you have similar hair colors. I don't suppose you two are related, are you? And yes, we might as well hang out. For starters, what particularly is going on in the booths over there?" There seemed to be different activities going on, with some people seemingly engaged in a mock gun fight, some others sharing a single sweater between them (and seemingly on their way to disaster with whatever they were doing), and people thrusting their faces close to curtains to receive a, what, kiss?

"Ewww! Are they kissing random people?" Suzhen asked, her expression one of mild interest and horror. "What if someone has halitosis... or worse?"


WC: 638 words
Total: 1249/2000

Asher could almost cry in relief; these people were so nice! The other man he spilled his ice cream all over ended up quickly forgiving him, and the beautiful woman also didn’t seem to mind. Of course, the fact that the other white-haired boy used some sort of spell to make the mess vanish probably help. Asher smiled a bit, eye still showing a bit of anxiety from the turn of events but obviously trying to gather his bearings. “Ya, that’s a neat spell! Thanks for the save.” He chirps, agreeing with the fashionable woman’s words while dismissing the holy water into the air.

Then he ended up flinching in surprise a bit as something landed on his shoulders, only to quickly relax back into his pre-ice-cream disaster cheerfulness. The scent of the animal, so deeply familiar in a way he can’t quite place (home perhaps?), set him at ease even before he looked over to see it was a handsome owl. He assumed because since it was both a mage familiar and a child of the forest like him. Probably. Asher ended up smiling warmly at the owl, Arnoba, and gently stroking her while the young man, Goethe, introduced them. Then felt his cheeks quickly flush red at the woman’s title for him. Oh, gods, he wasn’t going to live that down, was he? At least it wasn’t chocolate ice cream. He ended up looking sheepishly at them both after Suzhen introduced herself, red-eye peeking up and a bashful grin on his face. “Er, I’m Asher Brightward. Of Sabertooth.” He says to the other two, feeling rather shy in front of two such good-looking and confident city folks, compared to his gawky country ways.

Then immediately forgot any shy reservations at the offer to hang out. New friends?! Yes, a hundred times yes, he would love to hang out, he almost blurted out. But no! No Asher, no! His guildmates said that when meeting new people, he often ‘came on too strong and scared people away with his enthusiasm to make friends. They didn’t care, Sabertooth was full of unique characters, but they warned others may get put off. Asher would probably guess these two were the type, you looked so posh and put together. Plus if he got over-excited Arnoba might fall off his shoulder, and that was simply unacceptable. Squishing down his burst of excitement with a small cough into his fist, Asher simply said “Um, ya, I would love you hang out with you guys!” Probably a bit too enthusiastic and filled with sparkly red eyes, but still probably good?

Then there was a moment of silence, and the young men found themselves closely scrutinized by Suzhen. Then words came out of her mouth. Words Asher needed a moment to translate, and even then he didn’t understand most of what she was saying. They, looked alike? Asher looked toward Goethe and had to agree, they did look a bit alike. But as for related… “Um, actually I’m albino. Uh, I don’t reeeaaallly understand it, but it means even though nobody else in my family has white hair and red eyes I do because I’m albino, but my kids might not be the same colour? I think? Unless they're also albino?” He asked grandfather once why he didn’t look like the man (other than sharing the same nose and eyebrows it seemed) and regretted asking. But Asher has never met either of his parents so maybe it was natural? And in that case, he could be very well related to Goethe. Not something he wanted to wonder about a guy he literally just met, so instead he latched onto the next topic of conversation. “Oh ya, the festival booths there always so fun! You guys want to try it out?” He asks them cheerfully. Then docks his head in confusion. “And what’s a haliplosis?” And what did it have to do with kissing? He had kissed before, a girl in his village made him ‘play marriage’ once the rare time they let him play with them, but otherwise had little experience. “Why is kissing people a game booth? How would you win?... Should we go see?” He asks the other two in pure confusion, though it appeared as if he was asking Arnoba.

WC: 717
TWC: 1,520

Rolling for the kissing booth.
Poor Goethe...

The member 'Digit v2' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Goethe smiled demurely as the other two introduced themselves. The lady was Suzhen; from her name and features, she was likely from that mysterious island of Dongxia. The boy was Asher, and he seemed a little nervous, but all in all, he seemed to be friendly enough. His smile widened a little more at Asher's declaration of being up for the day's socialization.

He turned slowly and studied Suzhen when she started talking about their similarities, using rather technical terms. "Zygo... what?" His eyebrows were raised, then a knowing grin crossed his features. "Ah... we've got a sage in the house. She wasn't bluffing when she said she's a scholar," he said to Asher. "Yes, white hair is uncommon, but I doubt we're related. His is caused by less pigmentation, mine is probably some wacky gene expressing itself." He shrugged. Following the conversation, Goethe looked towards the booth in question, and rolled his eyes. "A kissing booth? Seriously?" He would leave the explaining of what the dreaded "haliplosis" was to the scholar. At Asher's suggestion to check it out, Arnoba simply looked at Goethe.

"Somebody is scared..."

"Oh please!" Goethe didn't say this out loud, so that the others wouldn't think he was bonkers. To prove to Arnoba that such a thing couldn't ruffle the cool Goethe, he gestured with his head towards the booth, before striding towards it. "Well, let's satisfy our curiosity, shall we?"

Stopping in front of the booth, he looked about, wondering what he would face, and how the booth worked. It seemed all that there was to it was to just lean over the counter and close one's eyes. He turned to look at the others, and gave another shrug. The owl on Asher's shoulder gave him a fixated stare, like she was daring him to do it. "Pfft! What's the worst that could happen?"

He planted his hands on the counter, leaned forward, and cracked an eye open. Nothing happened. "Close your eyes, silly." Rolling his eyes again, he closed them this time, though his mouth was a thin, flat line. Just when he thought it was all a waste of time, someone kissed him. He couldn't say who it was, but it was most likely a girl. To his personal surprise, his eyes remained closed for a second after the kiss, though he had been planning to open them immediately he felt contact. Opening them slowly, he found himself staring into an empty booth. He had to admit: the kiss felt... nice. And it was his first, too. He found himself wondering if the person was real or imagined. If she was real, maybe he would like to meet her. Maybe.

Straightening up, he thrust his hands into his pockets and whirled around, trying to act all calm and composed, but try as he might, the rosy blush on his cheeks refused to go away. "So, how was it?" "Well... ahem... there wasn't really anything to it." It was obvious he was lying. "You guys should try it. Including Arnoba." He shot a mock-baleful glare at Arnoba, who was obviously unbothered.

Stepping away from the booth, Goethe watched to see if Asher and Suzhen would have a similar experience as he had.

Rolling a die for the Kissing Booth

Let's hope Suzhen is lucky....

The member 'Fraag' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Suzhen gave a mildly embarrassed chuckle as Goethe commented on her being a scholar. It was easy to forget that not everyone had the same academic predilections. As she expected, the two white-haired boys weren't related, which meant that it was quite a stroke of coincidence that brought them to meet. The one who had introduced himself as Asher had stated his cause for his unnatural hair color to be albinism, which would have been rather obvious with his pale skin, white hair and red eyes to indicate his body's general lack of pigmentation. However, Suzhen was more comfortable with asking questions before making any quick assumptions. It was always wiser to be sure about one's facts before making conclusive deductions. Goethe, for his part, seemed to be normally pigmented, which made his case all the more curious, as he was expected to have a more common hair color. But genetics were a very complicated subject, and the Dongxian scholar was scared of boring her company with too many technical discussions. She wasn't in school, after all.

Asher's question about how kissing was a game was met with a shrug. Suzhen was sure she didn't have the answer to that question. But while she was interested in checking out the booth, a part of her felt reluctant to be the first to head towards it. So she decided to take the time to describe what 'haliplosis' was, while Goethe took the initiative and headed for the booth. "Halitosis is love-child of morning breath and a lack of general oral hygiene," the indigo-haired girl started, then paused. Asher seemed to be the straightforward type, and her normally winding speech could be more of a hindrance to communication. "Let's just say that someone with halitosis has got a very smelly mouth. I'd rather not have such a person as my kissing partner... if I bother to go ahead with 'that'." The 'that' was the kissing booth, and she waved a hand at it to clarify. It seemed Goethe had had a good experience, judging from the blush on his cheeks and his suggestion to them to try it, even though he spoke slightly dismissively of the experience. The archetypal cool guy, huh?

"Uh, okay..." Suzhen said a bit uncertainly. It wasn't that she had never kissed someone before. But the thought of just locking lips with a total stranger was worthy of even just a little alarm. Still, someone had done it, and it hadn't been so bad. Hopefully, she would have a similar or better experience. The Dongxian maiden stepped up to the booth, leaned on the counter, and shut her eyes. It was horrible. Not the lips that met hers, but what surrounded them, literally. Stiff, prickly, itchy stubble. Suzhen screamed and leaped back, scratching her chin. "By the Celestial Bureaucracy!" she exclaimed, "I was kissed by a hedgehog!" This 'hedgehog' was apparently nowhere to be found, and Suzhen had to remain consoled with the fact that someone with rotten teeth hadn't been the one to kiss her. But that fellow's stubble was legendary.

"Ah well," she sighed, running a hand through her indigo hair in exasperation, "I guess I'm always unlucky. Well, you're up next, Asher... or Arnoba, though I've no idea if it's another owl that would come out to kiss you...."


WC: 554 words
Total: 1803/2000

Time to roll Asher's dice~

(pleeaasseee be a 5 so he can kiss Arnoba!!)

The member 'Asher Brightward' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Normal Dice' :

Despite Asher’s own doubts about the game, Goethe’s confidence going into the booth was very encouraging. But it left him awkwardly alone with a stunning, intelligent woman, making Asher a very shy 19-year-old indeed. “So-uh, the haliplosis?” He questions then cringes a little because he already asked about it before and if Suzhen didn’t feel like answering then- oh. Really? “So, it’s like, really bad breath? Or a tooth disease?” The albino man replies. They had a medical term for having bad breath? But before Suzhen had a chance to replies, a pink-cheeked Goethe returned. Asher, and Suzhen as well it seemed, was a bit surprised he praised the game. Was kissing really that good? From what Asher remembered of his ‘wedding’ it was sort of gross. Maybe that because he was a kid. It might be better now that he was an adult.

While Suzhen reluctantly went to try out the booth himself Asher look toward Goethe with a grin. “So how will Arnoba participate in the game?” He asks the other boy cheekily, petting the beautiful owl while he did so. He still didn’t get how one won this game, but the answer became clear as their scholar friend returned, complaining loudly about kissing pointy wild animals instead of men. Asher could only blink in surprise. So you could kiss animals in the booth? Good for Arnoba then, she could kiss another owl if she was lucky. “Ok, I guess that’s the game then. If you get a good kiss from a person you like, then you win! But I guess if you get kissed by an animal you lose…?” The suggested to the others. Then the slayer nods with determination and bounds forward to the booth before the others could say anything. Asher wouldn’t mind too much if he got kissed by an animal, as long as it was the lips (or anything equivalent). Poor Suzhen didn’t even get the chance to kiss the hedgehog’s cute nose, instead got its spiny back… As he arrived at the booth Asher wondered if he should have offered to heal her. Maybe when he’s done.

Ducking into the booth Asher didn’t really know what to expect, and he was extremely nervous. So he just dived in without thinking, squeezing his eye’s shut and leaning forward. He quickly received a kiss in return and a small chuckle from the other person. To Asher's surprise, the kiss itself felt… nice. Made water guppies bounce in his stomach and everything. In the end, he almost chuckles in return, they felt the power of a spell wash over him. At first, he was wary, having an unknown spell cast on you is never a good thing, but it was quickly replaced by an emotion of happy giddiness, an emotion that made him feel like melting into a puddle of water. He quickly opened his eyes, but like the others found the booth empty. Except, in from of them there was… hearts? Yes, cute red hearts in a faint pink mist that popped like bubbles occasionally. Looking around, Asher noticed they were in a cloud centred around him, and followed him as he moved. Instinctually Asher knew this was a gift and let out a joyful laugh.

“Hey, guys!” He says, running toward and waving at the waiting duo. The hearts surrounded him, and the slayer's face was flushed and joyful. “I won! Or at least I think I did? Pretty sure they were human, or at least humanoid. But anyway, look, I got this neat charm cast on me!” He says cheerfully to the young master and scholar, turning in the spot as if the hearts floating in the air were not obvious, then stopping to pop a red heart with his finger and laugh. Then remembers something. "Oh right, Suzhen, do you need healing from kissing the back of that hedgehog? I can cast a healing spell if you like since water can be a healing element." He offers sincerely to the woman, hand already glowing with holy demon slayer water to reach out to her.

(OOC: awww no owl kiss but this was still nice~)

WC: 684
TWC: 2,204

Trying not to think too much about his "first kiss", Goethe watched to see how Suzhen would fare with the booth. He had a feeling that each of them might end up having different experiences, as that was more likely to make things more... exciting, and make people want to try out their luck. So, while he was not surprised that she encountered something different from what his own, he was a bit startled at Suzhen's sudden exclamation. Quickly, the surprise gave way to amusement as he heard the cause. He tried not to chuckle, but her reaction had really been funny in a cute way. She seemed to have a rather colorful way she chose her words. He would have to watch out for that in the future.

"Eh, I guess we all get our doses of sour luck every now and then," he said to her last statements. "I'd have loved to see Arnoba try it, but, knowing her, I'd probably have more luck fishing for a carp in a nail bucket than expecting her to do it." This was made in reply to Asher's question about Arnie participating in the "game".

"Very wise of you to realize that, Goethe. I haven't taught you in vain."

"Taught me what?" he mentally countered, but Arnoba did not reply.

Asher contemplated his thoughts on the game, and Goethe rubbed his chin in thought. "I'm not sure if there's really a winning or losing aspect to this, per se... though I must admit that I think Suzhen drew the short straw. Still, you haven't tried, so let's see if you're lucky."

As Asher went to get his own kiss, Goethe ventured to say, in the way of making a little small talk (so that he wouldn't be seen standing awkwardly beside a pretty girl): "So, being a scholar, what's your discipline? If I had to guess, I'd say something related to anthropology."

There wouldn't bee too much time for chitchat though, as Asher shortly returned, beaming, with little hearts floating all around him. "Well, wow... I guess you did win this game fair and square," Goethe commented with a smile as he waited for Asher to get to where they stood. "Congratulations." He reached out and gingerly poked at one of the hearts, wondering if some practical application could be contrived from this charm.

Arnoba remained on Asher's shoulder, acting like the hearts were either not there at all, or it was a perfectly normal thing to happen.

"So, what's up next?" Goethe asked, looking around. He was also trying to see if he could locate a booth that sold fast food.

Suzhen gave Asher an askance look, when he talked about his idea of the stipulations of the kissing game, with getting kissed by an animal being the sign that you had lost. Recollecting that she had professed to being kissed by a hedgehog, the Dongxian smiled wryly. He seemed very straightforward, this Asher fellow, and as such the exaggerations of her metaphorical style of speech had been lost on him, the albino assuming that Suzhen had actually kissed a hedgehog. While a part of her decided to speak in simpler terms so that her words wouldn't appear ambiguous to Asher, Suzhen was not totally devoted to that line of action. A more mischievous side of the scholar was interested in seeing just how her party would respond to her metaphor-rich discourse. But that was an issue for another time.

With Asher off to try his luck at lip locking, Goethe asked Suzhen what her focus of study was, being an academician. "Well yes, you're right about the anthropology thing," the Dongxian replied, trying to look and sound modest, and deciding against using the exact wordings of her subjects of mastery, due to their bombastic sounding names. "I have studied a good number of ancient and present-day Ishgaran languages, and I also have a degree in the study of supernatural creatures and events." She could not continue, and perhaps that was the best (she'd heard a lot of teachings against boasting about one's accomplishments), as Asher returned, his own experience looking like the jackpot, as far as the whole romantic atmosphere was concerned. It couldn't get much more extreme than an aura of floating hearts around him.

Suzhen had to laugh when Asher offered to heal her from whatever wounds she may have sustained kissing a hedgehog. "No, silly, I didn't kiss a real hedgehog," she chuckled. "I think it was a man, though his chin stubble was terribly prickly. So, as I said, for all intents and purposes, I'm the only one with bad luck...." Okay, that statement wasn't scientific. It was only after she had tried the same test about thrice, with an attempt to keep all other factors constant, and gotten bad results that it would be scientifically correct to assume she had bad luck. She suddenly perked up, entwining her arms around one arm of each of the boys, and moving towards the large glowing sign that said 'Heart Rollercoaster'. "I've got the perfect idea," she said, pulling at the boys to indicate her interest in them following her. "Let's try the rollercoaster thing. It will serve two purposes: firstly, I hear roller coasters are fun. Secondly, I can test my ill luck hypothesis. If I'm really as unfortunate as may be suggested, chances are that I'll probably be thrown off the ride and land on my head or something. Let's have a go at it, then!"

She sounded all chipper and excited, but there was some feeling of melancholia tugging at her heart. Both Goethe and Asher had enjoyed their kissing sessions. She had not. Much the same way she'd had very disastrous results with her one and only attempt at romance. Maybe she was unlucky as far as love was concerned. In any case, the speeding ride would take her mind off such glum things. She loved speed, so this could be enjoyable.


WC: 558 words
Total: 2361/2000

After cheering at Geothe’s congratulations, Asher ended up blushing like a loon at Suzhen’s reply. Ok, right, another metaphor that went over his head, of course. “Whoops… well at least you didn’t actually kiss a wild animal…?” He said sheepishly, dismissing the glowing water again, the hearts around him appearing and disappearing rapidly at his embarrassment.

Thankfully everyone had moved on. “That sounds like fun!” He says at Suzhen’s suggestion, looking up at the big metal contraption, and resisted rushing over, instead of walking beside the other two, chatting merrily about themselves and their lives.

Finally, they reached the ‘roller coaster’ and Asher immediately strapped himself in. So happy he was to be included and trying out new things, he forgot one important fact until the cart lurched for the first time. The reason why he teleported here with a magical item. The reason why he rather gets a beast to fly him around. The reason he avoids trains like they're going to eat him. He’s a slayer, and supposedly slayers have one big weakness.

“Urk!” He says seconds into the ride, face both green and pale, hand covering his mouth. It was several minutes of pure hell for poor Asher as his motion sickness protested violently at this ride. But Asher refused to throw up on his new friends! So, he held his, and eyesight almost going white, stumble’s out of the ride and JUST makes it to the trash can conveniently poised right near the stop zone. Then spend a few minutes being sick. He hears words of comfort and a few packs on the back, someone was even holding his long-ish hair back, but he couldn’t tell if it was Suzhen, Geothe, the nice owl, or the ride operator.

Asher tried his best to be present for the last activity for the day, but that ride practically drained his soul. But still, he had fun with the other three, and despite the bleary end to his day, cheerfully offered his iLac number to the other two before waving them farewell before teleporting back to the Ace of Spades, telling them to visit his guild sometime.

[Asher Exit]

WC: 359
TWC: 2,563

At the mention of the word "rollercoaster", Arnoba spread her wings silently and took flight. Birds had no business with such large, awful, torture devices. From what she had heard, they moved at frightful speeds, so unless she could fly equally as fast, she would be unable to keep up. And such speeds would fling her into oblivion if she tried to stay perched on anyone's shoulder. No, she would manage her affairs in the good old tree, which was not as deceptive as the metal machination, and from there, she could watch Goethe.

Goethe almost laughed at Arnoba's reaction. So, she knew what a rollercoaster was. Or maybe she did not, previously, but had gleaned it from his thoughts, or simply did not like the look of the looming contraption. "Yeah, let's," he agreed, with a slight shrug, and let Suzhen lead him to the Heart Rollercoaster. He gave the whole outfit a scrutinizing peer. In his honest opinion, rollercoasters were not romantic; they were for adrenaline junkies... unless this rollercoaster allowed for frightened lovebirds to cling to each other, but if that was the case, then they wouldn't be thoroughly strapped in, and could be easily thrown out. "Mmm... nothing romantic there, but hey, it's a famous enough attraction..." he mused.

"If Suzhen is worried about her luck, she can sit between us," Goethe said to Asher. "That way, unless her luck is world-changing, earth-shaking, law-defying bad luck, there shouldn't be any issues."

The rollercoaster carriage fortunately had three seats; some had two, for those who didn't want to share their experience with a third party. Goethe got in on the left side, strapped himself in, and drummed his fingers lightly on the support bar in front of him as he waited. Once everything was set and everyone was ready, the rollercoaster took off. Goethe looked over in slight alarm at Asher, who had just made a strange sound, and as he tried to ask what was wrong, the speed of the rollercoaster ripped the words from his mouth, losing them to the rushing wind. Poor Asher; he looked travel sick.

Fortunately, the ride was over soon, and while Goethe had found it so-so (okay, it was actually better than he cared to admit), Asher fled for the trash can, and emptied the contents of his stomach into it. Goethe came over and patted his back as Asher tried to get himself together. "Heh, you got mettle, Asher. I could tell you didn't feel so good once the ride kicked off, but you held it all in until the end. That's a tough thing to do. Hope you're feeling better?" Arnoba returned to Asher's shoulder, once he felt less sick.

Not long after, the day of activity came to an end, and the trio who met by chance had to say their farewells. Goethe exchanged iLac numbers with the other two. "Guess I'll take up your invitation sometime, Asher. See you around, sometime."

As Asher vanished (likely a teleportation spell), Arnoba returned to her seat on Goethe's shoulder. "Today was more fun than I thought, Suzhen." He paused. "Go on, say it," Arnoba nudged. "Let's hang out again sometime," he finished, his eyes trailing away slightly, as he rubbed the back of his head. He still wasn't so used to being social, but he felt good about these two people he had just met. "And maybe we can discuss luck one of these days, because I don't believe much in it. Well, have a wonderful evening."

Goethe gave her a small wave, and walked away. Unlike Asher, he didn't have any cool transportation spells like that, yet. He would come up with one, sooner or later. For now, it was the old hands-in-your-pocket-walk-away-technique he had to rely on.

"Admit it; today was fun."

"Would have been fun if you'd tried the kissing booth..."

And thus went on the telepathic banter, as Goethe made his way out of the other end of Rose Garden.

The three mages had managed to find a row with three seats, and Suzhen found herself positioned between the two boys. Sadly, the rollercoaster ride wasn't what the Dongxian had hoped for. While it was the stereotypical up and down rush at nearly breakneck speed, which normally she would have found delightful, it was the fact that Asher actually had a severe case of motion sickness that ruined the experience. It wasn't Asher's fault, in any case, and Suzhen felt responsible for his ordeal, seeing as she had been the one to suggest the rollercoaster ride. While he had been fortunately positioned at the edge of the row, he had managed to keep all he had eaten down until the ride was over, at which point he had promptly exited the ride and found a trash can to empty the contents of his stomach.

Noticing that the albino's hair could get in the way of his alimentary upheavals, Suzhen quickly swept his locks aside, holding them away from his face while repeatedly apologizing for what she had decided to take full responsibility for. Asher was quick to recover though, and even if he didn't look as sunny as before, he was still cheerful, offering the two his iLac number, which Suzhen was quick to accept, and welcoming the others to visit his guild sometime. After the communal sharing of contacts, he was gone in a flash. Most likely a teleportation spell. The Dongxian turned to Goethe who remained, even as she mentally praised the usefulness of such a transportation spell. "Hanging out again would be cool, and I look forward to our discussion on luck. Bye to you and Arnoba as well."

As the other silver-haired boy walked off, Suzhen turned and walked in the opposite direction, not because she had a destination in mind, but because she didn't feel like heading home yet. If today was an indication to go by, romance was disastrous. She would have to be wary of it if she could, for she had never been lucky as far as the matter was concerned. But who knew, maybe one day her luck would turn. It was more likely for Murphy's Law to be in effect, though.


WC: 371 words
Total: 2732/2000