expiationlogs | [open/mingle] a light in the darkness

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[open/mingle] a light in the darkness

Who: any and everyone!
Where: astralin's farmhouse
What: mingle log for post-blackout!
Warnings: y'all tell me, please be good and don't break the house :(

If she hadn't been at the party, Kotone wouldn't have even known about the extent of the blackout. Sure, it's inconvenient, considering a lot of the lights are electric, and the fridge is, of course, powered by electricity as well, but the farmhouse she'd taken over from Astralin is an older and more traditional building. The main heat sources are the fireplaces strategically placed throughout the building -- a large one in the living space, a smaller one in the kitchen along with a wood-burning stove, and another large central one upstairs to help heat the bedrooms -- and the geothermal hot springs on the land. With the cold weather and snow on the ground, it's easy to take the food from the fridge and leave it outside in a locked box away from wild animals, but aside from the inconvenience of resorting to the candles and lanterns that were stockpiled in the basement, the farmhouse itself survives relatively unscathed!

Therefore, not long after the blast, Kotone sends a video message over the (charm) network inviting anyone who wants to take shelter from the cold, or even just cook some food, to come to Astralin's farmhouse on the edge of town for as long as they want or need.

She won't even make anyone help out on the farm. Probably!

1. Rural Snapshot
Power might go out, but life on the farm doesn't stop for something like that! The old wood stoves in the barn need to be cleaned up and made ready for use to keep the animals warm, and the animals still need to be taken care of. Goats, sheep, cows, chickens (a particularly big and brave one has the tiniest leather collar and a tag that says her name is "Scramble," and her friends Benedict and Sunny aren't far behind. They are Not For Eating (though their eggs are!))

Kotone won't make anyone help her with the farm chores of cleaning the barn, feeding the animals, or generally keeping things up and running, but she definitely won't turn down the help, either, giving pointers so the new folk don't completely muck it up (sometimes literally).

With the snow and general chill, there's not much to do with the crops themselves. Everyone is safe from the fields for now!

2. Potluck and BYOB (chef's recommendation: hot cocoa)
The farmhouse is not the inn -- Kotone has some food prepped and stored, with preserves from the fall harvest one of the key features, but it's not meant to feed the whole town. Thus, Kotone's going to request that anyone coming to stay at the farmhouse bring either raw ingredients or something they've made to share with any other hapless souls. Feel free to use the kitchen to cook, or get some help from someone else with cooking!

The wood-burning stove in the kitchen is perfect for heating up cocoa or wine, and there's room to get close with someone in front of any of the fireplaces. Like, it's encouraged to get close. It's a big farmhouse, but not that big. Make a friend! Share some warmth! The couches are cozy and comfortable, and if someone dozes off, well, Kotone won't be the one waking anyone up.

If someone would prefer to sleep in a bed, there are some bedrooms upstairs! One is, of course, sharing the room with plants. They're benign, normal plants, from potted flowers to hanging vines, but they are everywhere. Kotone herself doesn't have much of a green thumb other than keeping the plants watered and in view of sunlight, but the plants themselves seem to be flourishing throughout the farmhouse either way. It's almost as if someone (Astralin) had used magic to keep them growing strong and healthy, even indoors.

Oh, and speaking of sharing, again, the farmhouse isn't the inn. Expect to be sharing a space with someone else. Maybe a few people! Cozy up and make a new friend. It's better than freezing to death, right?

3. Hot Springs Episode
There are natural hot springs on the farmland that have been developed to mimic a Japanese onsen in places. The air might be cold and dark, but there are candles and lanterns around the springs to light it, and the water is nice and warm, perfect for those chill nights.

There are rules posted -- namely, clean yourself before going to soak -- and while there are separate bathing spaces for genders, Kotone doesn't really care too much about mixed bathing as long as everyone is respectful about it. Others may not be so casual about it, though, so one has to venture across at their own risk!

[ooc: This is a mingle! Feel free to use these prompts as inspiration or make your own. The only request I have is not to completely destroy the farmhouse or harm the animals -- anything else, go wild!]

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[ The fact that it's such a traditional piece of Japanese architecture makes it stick out like a sore thumb. But it's a nostalgic, comforting, sort of sore thumb. Perfectly acceptable.

Minato trails after Manjiro and, even after food is set before him, doesn't start eating immediately. He stares and stares at the onigiri and tea. So there's food here that's like the kinds from back home? This is the first time he's come across anything that resembled Japanese food since arriving, not that he'd really been here for very long. ]

You good there?

(there is food in this house that does... all the spices and little original things, but eventually, it will be over... but he can't really see minato that well, so the least he should do is light some candles.

and yu says he's not romantic.)

[ ...oh. Right. He's not alone. ]

Mm. Yeah.

[ Minato reaches for the tea, wrapping his cold fingers around the cup. He takes a sip of it and, admittedly, this is way better than the hot chocolate. ]

I didn't know they had onigiri here.

They don't. I do.

(it's one of the perks of having your home just freaking appears with all its contents. he tries to be mindful, after all, ingredients will run out eventually, but till then, he can have these little reminders of where they came from.)

[ Manjiro's decided to share some finite ingredients then. For now, the onigiri goes untouched. ]

...is it really okay?

[ Of course it is. Why else would Manjiro have gone through the trouble of laying out food and tea for the two of them. Old habits die hard though for someone who's not used to those sorts of gestures. ]

If it weren't for you to eat, I wouldn't have offered. Just fucking eat, don't worry about it.

(he's not fake nice, and some would argue he's not nice at all. he doesn't do niceties for the sake of it.)

[ Right...

That's sufficient reassurance. Minato reaches forward for one of the onigiri. He takes a small bite, nibbling thoughtfully. ]

...it's good.

[ It's... really good, maybe because he doesn't know when the next time he'll have onigiri will be. ]

Yuchin made it. Yu Narukami. I can't cook for shit, so he's the cook here.

(like remember that one time manjiro tried the Romance Route Social Link 10 and then almost burned the dojo. it's best if he doesn't even try.)

[ Ah. Duly noted. ]

Oh.

[ He's met Yu. The guy's pretty chill, good vibes all around. ]

I didn't know Yu could cook.

[ Good to know this is one of Yu's semi-regular haunts though. ]

Yeah, he can. Really well, and he likes doing it, too. Can you?

(cook, he means.)

[ He needs to tread lightly, Just In Case. If he says yes, will he potentially end up as the dojo's second chef? ]

Kind of. If I have to, I can.

[ Like following recipes, or frying an egg, simple stuff like that... He won't starve if left to his own devices. ]

I can't even do that. When it was me and another Toman member, we had to eat out.

(or rip their stomachs.)

Oh.

[ Toman, though? What's that? ]

Is that the name of your gang...?

Ah, yeah. Tokyo Manji.

(manji, both the buddhist symbol, but also-- manji---ro! not that anyone calls him that, anyway.)

[ "Tokyo Manji"...... Nope, it's not ringing any bells. ]

I don't think I've heard of them before.

[ Manjiro's from a different Japan then. Or, the gang isn't quite as famous as Manjiro might like them to be. ]

We don't seem to exist where you come from. We control all of Shibuya.

(GOOD HE DIDN'T SAY THAT OUTLOUD.)

Also, like you know gangs, with that little nerd face of yours.

(... and mikey looks like that, so, he really has no room to talk.)

[ Minato might not have the best sense of self preservation, but he has... Enough... ]

Oh. ...yeah. That must be why.

[ His brow creases a little, barely perceptible in the dark and the only sign that he disagrees with Manjiro's statement. ]

I guess.

[ Despite his expression, he ends up agreeing with Manjiro. ]

(oh. an expression from the expressionless.)

Explain. Don't just agree.

[ Whoops. Caught red-handed...

He doesn't like explaining, but he's been called out, so -- ]

I wouldn't have known you were a gang boss if you hadn't told me.

'Cuz you didn't read the uniform.

(please, he knows what he looks like!)

Also, yep, I know, but I guess it's more-- I couldn't ever imagine you in one. You're too... Contained.

[ Okay. Regarding the uniform, that's... actually fair.

And so is that descriptor. He's spent his entire life being contained, molding himself to fit each container like water. ]

I guess so.

[ That's a real yes as opposed to just going with the flow.

He's not if sure he can help it. So maybe it's a good thing none of his social links were tied to joining a gang... ]

...is that bad?

(... yeah, fuck the tea, this motherfucker needs alcohol. he unfortunately does need the chair to reach the cabinets, so excuse him while he has to drag one, climb it, tip-toe, and grab one of the sake bottles and two glasses.

he serves minato's, then he awaits.)

... My honest opinion? It's survival; if that's what you are looking for, it's the path of least resistance. To be adaptable to what people wanna hear n' all. To me, that ain't life. I'd die before being a conformist. Back home, I could die tomorrow, but I'd die making a stand. Fuck survival, die being you. I guess it all comes down to how you want to live and how you want to die.

[ Minato looks down at the glass of sake. So it has come to this, he thinks as he takes one final sip of his tea. He sets it aside and takes the sake in hand.

It's ironic. It really was a form of survival, even though he'd never been particularly attached to life. Deep down, maybe all living things secretly want to cling to life.

He takes a sip of the sake. It burns on the way down.

Manjiro's strong, he thinks to himself. It's why he can say he'd die making a stand. ]

I did.

[ He did, technically. His death had been completely willing. He'd died exactly how he'd wanted: returning the love everyone had offered him that year. ]

Die?

(not the first case he hears, so that doesn't really shock him. he's close to shinjiro, after all.

in fact, he often selfishly and secretly prays for this place to bring his deceased. a smile from his brother, the scent of his mother without the hospital stench, a punch from baji, maybe even his dad - just to hear the voice he can barely recall. his little sister, who's life hangs by a thread right now as they walk towards the hospital. death is devastating for those who stay, but for those who leave? manjiro knows they're fine. he hears them, ever so often, sees them whenever he needs to stand tall.

he's not strong. it's the people around him that make him so, and way too many have been leaving.)

... Now you're alive again, though. Don't you want to live for yourself? What do you have to lose, you're kind of already dead.

Yeah.

[ It's probably not that uncommon. He knows he's not the only one who'd made it to Aldrip after meeting their demise. Kotone and Shinjiro are proof of that.

Minato goes quiet again. He sets the sake glass down with a pensive frown. Even though he might not have anything to lose, he's not sure it really makes a difference in this case. Does it really matter if he's not sure where to start? ]

...I've never thought about it before.

[ It's tough when there isn't anyone who can give him an answer. ]

I don't --

[ Don't know how, is what he'd like to say. They don't make it past his lips, not when he's left wondering if it sounds pathetic to someone so sure of himself, even if that strength is drawn from the people around him.

Hadn't Manjiro told him to speak his mind though? ]

I don't... know. ...I'll have to figure that out on my own though.

[ Manjiro, look at him; he's got smoke coming out of his skull... ]

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cw suicidal ideation

cw death

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