I made you a match!

[glitterateur]

WHO: The lucky souls signed up for the matchmaking event
WHERE: Various locations in various cities!
WHEN: The 22nd-24th
WHAT: Romance
WARNINGS: N/A for now! If hanky panky or violence happens I'll edit this


[Today's the day! Mabel, after days of matching, unmatching, and then re-matching, has finally wrestled the final dating forms away from the pigs assisting her and decided to make magic happen. Everyone will have found a message or two in their communicator's inbox on the 22nd from Mabel herself:

Gooood morning! Mabel here, with good news for you-- your match has been MADE! Your all-expenses paid date is just waiting for you to find true love. Enjoy the company and the free gift included, and thanks for participating!

Included in the message is the exact location and time of the date(s) in question. Transportation is provided, so no worries there, and the gift bags are... okay? Enjoy all the free candy, glitter, and lip smackers in various flavors. For all the smooching they're gonna do, get it?]


[1. Crusty Weirdoughs in De Chima is a cute retro throwback to those arcades of old— which is to say it’s crawling with punk kids and has a charming level of grime. At least there’s a snack bar! Which lets all the lucky couples order whatever they want on the house. The menu covers anything and everything a gamer could need: pizza slices, onion rings, fries, and every flavor of DESERT THIRST!!, the popular energy drink/soda, a person could ask for (today’s special is a lovely red color).

Meanwhile there’s a wide variety of games and Mabel has provided everyone with enough tokens to try most of them. Get to know your special someone with a match on the Alley Puncher machine! Participate in the DDR contest, if you think you can take those mean looking twelve year olds in a fight on their own turf! Check out the claw machine and try to beat the long, long odds and win yourself a stuff animal that could be any number of species. Racing games, fighting games, something called Co-Op Tetris Invaders Part V. It’s all here. And there’s always a Pac-Man ripoff for anyone who needs to work their way up to the more modern games.



2. Popular (but not too popular) Nonah pizza joint Slice to Be Here is hopping, but Mabel’s made sure to reserve the best tables in the house for the matchmaking participants. What makes them the best tables? Why, they’re right up next to the stage— the stage where the animatronic band of singing animals performs every hour! The band has seen better days. Their movements are jerky, the fur is worn off enough that their scary Terminator skeletons are showing in places, plus the song they’re singing is just slightly familiar and just as creepy. And is that mouse staring at you?

The other patrons don’t seem to notice. They’re too busy ironically appreciating this reminder of their childhood nostalgia! And the waitstaff just doesn’t care anymore— unless you try to fight or otherwise poke around their technical abominations, in which case they’ll sigh at you until they give up and move along. At least the food is good! The pizza comes in many varieties, from basic pepperoni to more gourmet options like raspberries and marscapone. There’s salads and other non-pizza foods you can request from your aloof hipster waiter (flannel is apparently part of the uniform) but why would you? Be adventurous, order a pizza with quinoa and kale.




3. The Epicurious George Memorial Food Festival is a small but lively event going on outside of Heropa. Restaurants from all over the eastern seaboard are represented here and free samples abound! It’s possible to stuff yourself silly on all kinds of things, from gourmet candy to literally anything ever sold on a food truck. Mabel’s provided coupons to the couples for a few free meals and a candy bar or two, but they may not even be necessary considering all the stuff just sitting around, waiting for people to eat them or shove them in a purse.

There’s plenty to see besides the food, of course. Celebrity chef Guff Doldman from hit reality baking show Gluten for Punishment! is doing a demo where he builds a cake portrait of a lucky member of the audience (which somehow always ends up being an import—Mabel may have bribed a few people). There’s kale smoothie chugging contests and a gourmet hot dog eating contest. Couples are welcome to watch or participate,using the patented tag-team system to drink the most foul vegetable juice or eat the most phallic food for a fantastic prize: gift certificate to the restaurant of your choice and the coveted Golden Antacid bottle (real antacids not included).




4. Kit-Tea Cat Cafe is a small cat cafe just starting out in Nonah, but you wouldn’t know it from the interior. It’s cozy and cute, with small tables perfect for conversation and approximately a hundred different versions of the classic cat motivational poster hung on the walls. Mabel’s made sure that each couple gets vouchers for several free drinks and has a nice table reserved just for them. The menu’s extensive— the food stuff is mostly small sandwiches and pastries, but the drinks range from coffee of all kinds to milkshakes to fancy sodas and teas. Enjoy the quality drinks and appreciate the latte art— it’s a cute kitty face in every cup!

The place where the newness starts to show is in the cat wrangling skills of its employees. They’re not great at keeping the cats in the play area, which is mostly alright— the majority of the cats are sweethearts eager for attention and petting. But some are complete hellions that have mastered the art of attacking even the most aware imPort from behind, above, or below. There’s even one cat that takes particular joy in hopping up on tables and trying to knock cups and glasses off of tables while staring patrons right in the eyes. Adorable.



5. Cee-Me Rollin’! is a safe haven in Maurtia Falls for those who want to get away from hover technology and go back to the days when skates with wheels were king. The inside of the building is dominated by a giant roller rink, complete with a truly epic number of disco balls constantly spinning above the skaters. Mabel has done everyone a solid by paying off the DJ to play only the finest in pop music while people skate around and around in circles. Enjoy those earworms and 80s throwbacks!

Skates are rented out for free, and Mabel has made sure that participants can grab whatever they need from the snackbar to fuel their skate-tastic dates. Overall the place seems like it’s all about the pretty chill atmosphere... if you can avoid getting run over by the roller derby team that’s taking this opportunity to practice their moves. The Maurtia Falls Pterrordactyls are very sweet ladies as long as you avoid getting elbowed in the face. Team captain Miss Demeaner might even try to persuade couples to join up for the day and learn the fine art of kicking butt on roller-skates.



6. Quiet coffee joint Espresso Yourself in De Chima is almost impossible to find unless you already know where it is. They don’t believe in signs, or advertising, or putting themselves on search engine map functions. Luckily Mabel has provided a map as well as provided coupons for free drinks and pastries. Once people manage to get inside (talk to the man in front of the green door in the alleyway off of Beatonna Street, and tell him Mabel sent you!) they’re greeted by welcoming snaps from all kinds of black-clad poets and beatniks. There are more berets and sunglasses in here than should be legally allowed.

But the chairs are comfortable, the coffee is good, and it seems like a nice place to have a conversation! ...if you don’t mind talking around the poetry that’s happening. It’s open mike night and do these people have feelings and words to share. Some of it’s good, a lot of it is questionable, and that guy in the corner definitely just tried to rhyme “door hinge” with “orange” in his free verse poem about the existential angst he’s faced with. Make fun, talk around it, or even hop on stage and impress your date with your wordplay.]

Comments

Tetsuo + Rikki || Slice To Be Here || Nonah

[iamtetsuo]

[He was going to say no.

Tetsuo didn't sign up for this, and he had no interest in actually addressing for good the likelihood that Kaori would appear here or really face acknowledgement that he was well and truly alone in a house where at least half of the occupants were dating someone or otherwise ... involved. He took this out initially by trying to sulk in various places if he wasn't outright threatening, but in the end, he's sitting at a designated table with all the cheer and charm of a wet cat, staring intently back into the dying faces of robotic nightmares.

Now, he's a tough kid, raised on the streets of Neo Tokyo. He's a jaded psychic, exposed to all kinds of thoughts and imagery both real and surreal or downright nightmarish. He's fought battles- both on his own, and as part of a larger group once or twice, and he's caused or seen his share of horrors.

That's exactly the excuse he has to never let his eyes leave those automatons easily, half afraid if he did they'd be looming over him the next second, or distorting further into horror in an attempt to kill him. Merrily oblivious to his concern, they sing on, joints squealing from poor maintenance, casing creaking in the more sudden movements, nuts and bolts loosened to make them shudder at every stopped motion.

In a past life, a world away, this would be an alarmingly similar situation to one very specific hallucination... But fortunately, he has no such connection here beyond finding those robots both fascinating and highly unsettling. And even moreso, no one else seems to share his mistrust, merrily laughing or singing along in one case.

When Rikki approaches, she'll find all 5'4" inches of him hunched under Kaneda's jacket a table right by the stage, brooding as best as one can when being sized up by a robot band from Hell, bleached white hair mostly covered under a black leather hat. No one said he had to dress up for this, and even if they did, it's not like he has nicer clothing.

Maybe he'll have just psychically launched a packet of something all the way across the room into the singing guy's widened mouth mid-refrain, or maybe she'll just hear the offensively off-key wailing in the distance cut short in a startled yelp.

They should be grateful he showed up. He didn't have to.

(He absolutely had to.)]

[girlwithout]

[Rikki's still kind of confused as to how she ended up in this whole blind date matchmaking thing - she did meet Mabel, like, a couple times? She also considers ditching it, but she doesn't like the idea of standing some poor person up. Plus, she's never really been on a blind date before, so she figures she might as well try it. What's borrowed time for if not to use on new things?

She didn't dress up a lot since a pizza place doesn't seem like the most formal date setting, although she kinda wishes she'd brought, like, some of her throwing discs cause those animatronics are creepy as heck. It doesn't help when she realizes that the table she's supposed to go to is right up near the stage.]

Uh, hey? I'm Rikki. I guess I'm your date? [She doesn't sit down yet, giving him a chance to confirm she's in the right place first. Also, he looks kind of glower-y, which isn't the greatest first impression.]

[iamtetsuo]

[Problem solved, Tetsuo glances up. She's not too tall, and even through his prejudices he has to admit, she's pretty. Not too tall, cute haircut... he's almost insulted she isn't making it easy to immediately hate on the spot just for being the other half of the situation.

Rikki sounded about right from pronunciation, which wasn't always the case.]

Probably... I'm Tetsuo.

[That'd almost sound normal if he wasn't mumbling most of it.]

[girlwithout]

[Okay, so he is her date. He's still kinda, uh... let's go with unhappy, which isn't a great first impression, but she's determined to see this through. Or at least try.

So she sits down and keeps on being friendly.] So, uh. Is it me, or does the animatronic band look kinda possessed?

[iamtetsuo]

Not just you.

[He latches onto the topic easily, glancing over at the collection of horrors gleefully singing Hell's Lullaby in a slow, electronic stutter.]

Was starting to wonder if they really looked like that. No one else seems to notice!

[girlwithout]

Maybe they're hypnotized? Or it's a secret cult. [Look, just because it's super-unlikely doesn't mean it isn't possible.] One that serves pizza. [Gotta fund the cultly activities somehow, right?]

[iamtetsuo]

Why not both? If it's just a cult, wouldn't they be worshipping those things, or painting symbols around Nonah or something?

[Fanatic cults not only exist in Neo Tokyo, but they're the cause of not infrequent riots and demonstrations.]

[girlwithout]

Dunno. I don't have a lot of experience with cults. [Hmm. She's still not totally sure how the whole... supernatural mind control sense thing works cause it's not like she's really ever been in a situation where someone was mind-controlled.

But she kind of just... checks on a random sampling of patrons around them and just knows they're fine. Sky is blue, water is wet, these people are enjoying the creepy show of their own free wills.] For what it's worth, no one's being mind controlled.

[iamtetsuo]

How do you know that?

[If she's not full of shit, that means this place got ten times creepier.]

[girlwithout]

It's a... thing I can do? Like, I guess I just... know if someone's being tampered with like that. [Which is maybe not something to advertise, but it doesn't really occur to her to be that paranoid about a blind date.]

[iamtetsuo]

Huh. You a psychic?

[He sounds genuinely curious.

There's still no sign of waitstaff, no menus, of course not. That'd make this place well maintained or cared about. ...either that or they didn't come in with the secret cult emblem or phrase or whatever.]

[girlwithout]

Kiiiiiinda? [She shrugs a little awkwardly.] It seems like a psychic power, but it's really the only thing like that I can do.

[iamtetsuo]

[Aw, dammit. It's not nothing; he's trained enough to know that's the sort of thing he'd have to work hard to discern probably, but ... but.]

So you're telling me that everyone's here because they wanna stare at that-

[He jerks his head at the stage]

-all day?

[girlwithout]

Yeah. [She rubs the back of her neck.] ...yeah. I dunno, maybe the food's really good?

[iamtetsuo]

[Tetsuo shrugs.]

Can't be that good... It's just pizza.

[Weird, exotic, but beyond that not too much to his taste. He's never had pizza fancier than the standard delivery kind, though, what does he know.]

[girlwithout]

At least we're not paying for it this. So I guess if we get murdered by creepy animatronics, my epitaph's gonna have to be "I did it for the free food". [Is she okay with that? Let her think about it.]

[iamtetsuo]

Hnh. I guess. I've faced worse stuff than those for food.

[He also has to think, but it's not about the pizza. His eyes focus on the nearest musical machine, mouth stretching into a thoughtful frown as he contemplates it. It's a robot, and that's cool. But it's also not a giant robot, and it's got joints, or an engine somewhere running it. Poor condition, too, if the movements are anything to go by.

Sure, it would probably weigh a decent amount. But what's that matter?]

Hm... I could break 'em if they do anything.

[he's wondering if it's worth it to break them if they don't.]

[girlwithout]

[Hmm. She forces herself to look at them, too, assessing. She's not sure about the upper limits of her super soldier strength, but she could probably do some serious damage.] Yeah, I think we can take 'em.

[Oh thank god, a waiter is finally coming by.] You have any pizza preferences?

[iamtetsuo]

[That is an excellent question that he could have spent time thinking about instead of contemplating destroying this place and maybe everyone in it. True to form he hadn't even considered the question until now.]

Etto...

[Think fast, the waiter's here. Even with his decent grasp of English words gleaned through telepathic cheating, he could not make heads or tails of most of this ridiculous spread of a menu. These are just letters, spewed out at random order in a page with spaces in between.

He COULD dig out his comm to translate these...]

Less cheese, I guess.

[girlwithout]

Okay. [Who orders a pizza with less cheese?

Okay, whatever, she's not judging. Since he doesn't seem to have many preferences on this, she goes with what she figures is safe:] Pepperoni? Unless you don't do meat.

[iamtetsuo]

[If there's a reason, he's not offering it up without prompting. Meat? Sure, whatever, why not.]

Meat's fine. I can eat that.

[girlwithout]

Pepperoni it is, then.

[Of course, now that figuring out what to eat is out of the way, and they're probably not going to get murdered, they've got to find another topic of conversation.] So, uh, how long have you been... here?

[iamtetsuo]

Hmm. I got here in July, so... eight months. Some people have been stuck here longer.

[girlwithout]

Yeah. I was here for a few months like a year ago. Coming back is... weird. Some of the people I used to know are gone.

[iamtetsuo]

You were here a year ago?

[Intrigued now, he leans forward a bit. Wanda left ages ago, but she doesn't remember anything now. He'd assumed anyone gone long enough was just.. gone. Not themselves in a way he wanted to deal with easily.]

And you remember it? What about back where you came from - did you remember that?