4. Text, Action

[greatseal]

Hello, everyone! You may have already noticed from the stores, but tomorrow is a holiday called Valentine's Day. I know not everyone is from Earth so I thought that it might be good to explain it.

Valentine's Day started in the West as a religious holiday, but it's turned into a holiday for showing people you love them! In some countries, you mostly give gifts to your girlfriend or boyfriend. In Japan (and Hinoto-ri) though, it's different. On Valentine's Day, women give chocolates to the men they know, and next month, on White Day, the men give gifts in return. Giving a guy fancy chocolates means you really like them! (o⌒.⌒o)♡

[If this were voice, this is where it would turn more serious.] A lot of us are waiting for people to come home, and we don't know how we can help that to happen yet. The people you love the most might not even be in the city at all. But we can still have fun for a day. And who knows... they might even show up tomorrow in time to celebrate.

...Anyway, if there are any girls (or boys, even) who want to learn how to make Valentine chocolates, come stop by the Iwatodai Dorm today. I have some ingredients ready. [attached: directions.txt] And if you have a recipe of your own you want to try, bring what you need and we'll make it, too!

[Action, Iwatodai Dorm]

[As promised, Minako has a good amount of chocolate and related materials getting ready for use. She's got the door to the kitchen open and the stoves working melting the chocolate, but a lot of the ingredients are spread out on the large dining-room table in the lobby. She's not sure how many people will take her offer, after all.

It may seem odd to do all of this when she doesn't even know if her intended chocolate recipients will be home tomorrow. But keeping busy has always been her trademark. When she's focused on other things, or other people, she doesn't have to worry about herself. So really, this level of activity isn't strange at all.]

[Note: Feel free to threadjack in the action part! Everyone probably won't be working individually the whole time, after all.]

Comments

[feminine_carnivore]

[ Deciding to take a stroll around the city to get to learn it better, Chie ended up reading the post and finding the dorm. She had recognized the name as one of the places she had seen when they visited Tatsumi Port Island, so Chie was doubly curious.

So she arrived in her normal winter clothes, knocking lightly on the door. Hopefully it wouldn't be too strange, she just wanted to ask a question or two, and wouldn't intrude on the candy making. Not that it doesn't seem fun, she just would prefer not to bother people she doesn't know. ]

[greatseal]

Come in! It's open!

[Minako calls first, but then realizes that the person at the door might not even hear it. So, she heads for the lobby, wiping some chocolate off of her hands with a towel. She opens the door.] Hello!

[feminine_carnivore]

A-ah! Hello! [ Chie's almost glad it's a girl answering the door, as she's better at interacting with other girls. ]

I was in the area, and I was wondering if this dorm came from Tatsumi Port Island? I was there once on a field trip, and just thought how weird it would be if this build was from the same world that I just came from.

[ Chie still hasn't met Akihiko or Misturu, so she knows nothing of other real Persona users. ]

[greatseal]

[Minako blinks, but it's actually not as strange-sounding a question as Chie might think. By now she has a good idea of why someone would ask it.]

Are you one of Yu-kun's friends from Inaba? [He really has a lot of friends coming to the city...] You're right, though, this dorm's supposed to belong to Gekkoukan High School.

As a HaseoXAtoli Shipper, I had to make this happen

[not_that_scary]

[Someone just rang the doorbell, Minako, and behind the door is a man wearing entirely too little clothing to be comfortable in the cold weather.]

['I hope I'm making the right decision...' Your human concepts of courtship were always so confusing to me. Why do you even need to beat around the bush like this? 'Well sorry for not wanting to scare her away like a lunatic!' I'm just saying, tell her your intentions of wanting to mate and you should be fine! 'Do you even listen to the crap that you say!? We're not animals, here! We're humans! You know, that thing that's on the other side of the screen!?' But humans are nothing but mammals in the end, so why not just do it like the Discovery Channel suggests? 'What the hell were you doing while hiding in the internet, man?']

[feminine_carnivore]

..You know Yu-kun? [ Her face turns a little sour for just a second. Of course this pretty girl knows Yu, the entire female population of Inaba seems to know him after all. ]

Yeah, I go to Yasogami High with Yu-kun. But I just arrived in this city.

[ Oh, she should introduce herself! ]

I'm Chie Satonaka!

[greatseal]

[She nods to the question, although that was a weird look for a moment, Chie.]

We arrived in Hinoto-ri at the same time last fall.

[anyway-] It's nice to meet you, Chie-chan. I'm Minako Arisato. I went to Gekkoukan, but you probably guessed that already.

[greatseal]

[Minako isn't entirely surprised to find a guy at the door, since she had invited everyone. But that's not exactly a winter outfit.]

Aren't you cold...? [wait that's not what she meant to say...] Come in! You're here to make chocolate, right?

[feminine_carnivore]

[ Hey, she had a bit of a crush on him. ]

I still can't believe my friends have been here all this time and I'm just showing up.. [ Not to mention Yu was in the hospital when she arrived. ]

Thanks for talking to me, but I should probably get going.. [ She took a small step back as if to leave, not wanting to overstay her welcome with someone she didn't know, even if she wanted to make chocolates. ]

[greatseal]

[The sudden move to leave surprises Minako.]

You don't need to go! I'm holding a chocolate-making workshop right now but you're the first person who's shown up. Well, if you want to make chocolates?

[She belatedly realizes that the other girl might not even be interested in that.]

[feminine_carnivore]

...Are you sure? [ Well, they are both friends with Yu, so it was okay, right? And they could talk about the high schools they both went to. ]

It's not like I have much else to do in a new city. Thank you! [ Chie gives Minako a smile, happy to be invited in. ]

action

[testsubject031]

[Don't mind Labrys. She'll just be quietly examining all of the tools and ingredients out on the table in the lobby. Candy making looks complicated, if the number of items needed to make it are any indication of the process.]

[greatseal]

Of course I'm sure! That's why I set this up.

[If she knew about Chie's ability in the kitchen she might be a bit warier, but... she's still dealt with Fuuka. She thinks she's seen the worst case already.] I have a couple of different recipes... Chocolate molds, bonbons, petit-fours, and some special protein brownies. Those are for my senpai, he's not a big sweets fan.

action

[greatseal]

[It's not so much that each particular recipe is complicated, but that Minako is overly prepared...]

Hey, Labrys! [aw yes, robot assistant] Do you want to make chocolate?

[feminine_carnivore]

[ If she had known the extent of Chie's terrible cooking skills she wouldn't have even allowed her inside. ]

I guess..I'll just go with plain chocolate. Simple is best, right? [ Not that she was going to make it simple at all...

As they walked into the dorm Chie took a look around, making sure to touch the furniture, checking to see if it was really real. ]

Man, I still can't get over how weird it is that places back home end up here.

[greatseal]

[Minako laughs softly.] The shrine from home showed up, too. It is really strange. I can't really complain, though, since everyone can live here together again.

[Or for the first time in some cases, but that gets complicated.] Anyway - I have heart molds and ones that make hollow balls you can put candy inside.

[testsubject031]

Heya, Minako! Is that what all this is? It looks like fun.

[Robot assistant reporting for duty!]

[feminine_carnivore]

My best friend Yukiko's Inn is here too. Makes it easy to feel less homesick I guess. ..Are a lot of your friends here too? [ Chie hasn't seen all of them, but she hears that almost her entire team is here. ]

Oh! A heart would be perfect! [ She's not sure who she's even going to give them to, maybe Yu or Yosuke since they are in the hospital. ]

[greatseal]

I heard that the Amagi Inn came here! I'd like to visit again sometime. I did once for a school trip and it was amazing, but that was when you all would've been in middle school. [oh yeah.] ...Time's a bit strange here, if you don't know that yet. It was 2010 when I left Iwatodai. It's the same for most of my friends. There's about... nine of us here now? Including me and my brother. And there's also Labrys-chan, but I didn't know her before Hinoto-ri.

[It should be obvious that she likes to chat by now, but she's not idle while she does; moving around the table and collecting the molds and bowls that she needs.] We'll need to melt the chocolate first. I have things set up in the kitchen.

[feminine_carnivore]

That's so weird! Did you see little Yukiko there? Oh, you might have even seen me then, I was always by her side! [ It's so strange talking to someone who might have met her as a kid but only a short time ago. ]

Labrys...Rise-chan told me about her, but I've never met her. I guess she is one of our team now.. [ She let's slip they were part of a team, and tries to cover it up. ]

O-Okay, melt the chocolate, yeah that makes sense.

Action

[all_wound_up]

[Nano doesn't know Minako at all, but it was an open invite, right? She hovers just outside the door to the kitchen, shopping bag in hand, and knocks quietly on the open door.]

Hello...?

[greatseal]

I did see Yukiko-chan! It was a big surprise running into her again here. I didn't meet you, but now that I think about it, your name did come up. [Was it from Yukiko or one of the inn staff? That conversation was a while ago, now.]

Labrys's sister Aigis is part of our team. We were Persona-users before coming here like you all were. [If it's a secret, Minako certainly doesn't seem to think so, since she knows about it already.]

[feminine_carnivore]

Ahah, I bet they were complaining about me. [ She was always trouble as a kid. ]

H-huh?? [ It's hard to think of it as much of a secret when everyone here were persona users anyway, but it's still strange to hear that other people were persona users even before them. ]

There were other persona users before us?

[text] --> [action]

[pastalishe]

I had wondered what all of the nonsense in the shops was about. If you still have room in your kitchen, I'd love to learn.

[After leaving that little message, Cloche will make her way to the Dorm. She doesn't often go out of her way to fail at cooking, but. What's the worse that could happen? It's not like Luca's around any more to poke fun at her style of making charcoal...]

[Cloche knocks on the open door of the kitchen when she arrives.]

Good afternoon, Minako. I hope I'm not interrupting you.

[greatseal]

I hope it will be. Cooking's a lot of fun in general!

[She's not going to talk about eating since she's pretty sure Labrys can't do that...] I'm making some protein bars for Akihiko-senpai. Do you want to help?