INTERVENTION

[all_wound_up]

Who: Nano Shinonome, Yukiko Amagi, and LITERALLY EVERYONE NANO HAS EVER TALKED TO.
Where: Shinonome Lab, Pisces District
When: Saturday, June 22nd
Summary: Yukiko has lost a lot of friends recently and is in danger of becoming a hikkikomori, so Nano's luring her out to a surprise party to try to get her to meet new people.
Warnings: Hopefully none.  Please don't blow up Nano's house, guys.

[Being the rather conscientious sort, Nano generally tries not to lie about things, especially to her friends.  But she's very worried about Yukiko, one of her very first friends in the city and the first one to reassure her that it was all right to be true to herself and others about what she was.  She's a very special and irreplaceable friend to Nano, and one that she's been seeing progressively less and less of as Yukiko's own friends began disappearing from the city in recent weeks.

Nano's worried, and that's why this time she's going to forgive herself just one little white lie for the sake of her friend's happiness.  She's invited Yukiko over to her house for afternoon tea, but what's actually waiting behind the front door of Shinonome Lab is a full-blown party.  There's tea, yes, but also cake, cookies, rice balls, a nice ripe summer watermelon, and other refreshments for everyone to enjoy.  And she's invited everyone she knows to come cheer Yukiko up.

It's a bit of deception she'll apologize for later, but Nano knows what it's like to feel lonely, and the one thing she's confident about is that the way to fix loneliness isn't to isolate oneself from people to avoid getting hurt again, but rather to open up and meet new friends.  For all of Hinoto-Ri's problems and dangers, there are a lot of great people living here, and Nano hopes that she can show Yukiko that and get her out of her room and socializing again.]

((OOC: This is basically just an all-purpose mingle log at Nano's house.  Assume that there's standard party fare around, and everybody feel free to tag each other as you please.  Nano will point Yukiko out to anyone who doesn't know her and make an effort to have her feel included, strongly encouraging people to at least introduce themselves to her.  If you're at the party, assume Nano has told you she's putting it on for a friend who's feeling lonely because her friends went away, and she wants to introduce her to some new ones.))

Comments

[electricyousei]

Ruri came a bit early, with a few things from her ship and from her room. She spent an hour or so setting up a karaoke machine with a holographic display instead of a monitor, and a few other display devices with what looks to be an odd video game with a right kanji fighting a left kanji (The written language thing, not the purse owner).

"Do you think this will help your friend?"

[all_wound_up]

I hope so! I think it's at least worth trying, though.

[electricyousei]

"If there's anything else I can bring, let me know?"

[all_wound_up]

I'll let you know if I think of anything.

[tyrantball]

Desco bought a sack filled with candy bars to the party, because that's just manners.

She's not entirely sure why it's manners, or even why she should care, but she did it anyway.

Currently, she's floating near the ceiling, enjoying some kind of weird candy bar that is apparently just potato chips crushed into a log shape and dipped in chocolate.

[all_wound_up]

Desco...? What are you doing up there?

[tyrantball]

Desco grins with chocolate-smeared fangs - although she's managed to keep it off her face, at least.

"Desco is maintaining aerial superiority while she eats!"

[all_wound_up]

[Nano giggles. She really is horrifyingly cute.]

Can I try some?

[tyrantball]

Without even an ounce of hesitation, Desco snaps off one end of the candy bar and floats down to hand it over to Nano.

"The only other person Desco ever shares her food with is Big Sis!"

A slight pause as Desco just lets that sink in.

"Desco won't tell you to be honored, because she knows you already are."

[ladieswhodresslikemen]

Faris was interested in meeting the real Nano.

It was clear when they'd last talked that neither of them were quite themselves, but the borrowed memory from a different machine/person had since vanished from Faris' mind.

Which is why she had every intention of coming here, and was extremely grateful for the opportunity.

She decided not to actually show it, since when she actually opened the door she kind of just stood there for a few moments.

[all_wound_up]

[Hearing the door, Nano heads over to welcome a new guest. It takes her a moment to remember who she's dealing with through the odd haze of false memories she was feeling at the time, but after a few moments she smiles.]

Oh! Faris, right? Please, come in.

[ladieswhodresslikemen]

Don't mind if I do.

[Which she does, taking in the atmosphere and stuff. From someone looking as young as Nano does, she wouldn't expect there to be any grog or booze and she's fine with that.

Besides, she'd seen what happened to that girl who'd ended up with her own memories. It did not look like she'd handled the drinks well, and she still wants to apologize and make up for that to her.]

Sure looks lively.

[all_wound_up]

[Yup, no booze here. Nano could probably process it, but most of her friends are underage anyway. But there's plenty of snacks and things.]

I'm hoping everyone can make it a very welcoming atmosphere for Yukiko-san.

[ladieswhodresslikemen]

Well, just relax then. Being on edge about it isn't gonna help you with that.

[Hey, weird food is all good with her. ...is that a pizza?]

she might be noping out

[gigglesnortpriestess]

[At first, she didn't feel like going to Nano's place and would've used an excuse to get out of it. But the inn workers (and Pyro Jack) already gave an answer and couldn't get out of it. Of course Yukiko denied there being a problem: she still kept up with her manager duties, stayed on top of her schooling, and tried to train whenever she could. It's just that...she wouldn't leave her room except if she needed to.

It still hurt after all this time but it dulled a little when she saw Kanji or Dojima but that damn nagging feeling wouldn't go away.

Now she found herself standing at the front door of Nano's place...and knocked.]

[all_wound_up]

[Nano opens the door, making sure to have a big bright smile ready to greet her friend. Of course, the number of pairs of shoes by the door is pretty much a dead giveaway as to what's actually going on.]

Yukiko-san! Please, come in!

[gigglesnortpriestess]

[You're starting to scare her Nano. And the shoes by the door is a dead giveaway.]

Is there...something going on?

[all_wound_up]

[Well, Nano's pretty bad at lying and keeping secrets, so she immediately bows her head in apology at that.]

I'm sorry, Yukiko-san!

[And then she bows it again before NERVOUS WORD-VOMIT.]

There's still tea, but I invited some other people over too. You've been so lonely and sad lately, and I know it's because so many of your friends have gone home. But you've just been sitting by yourself in your room at the inn, and I don't think forcing yourself to be alone is going to help you be any less sad or lonely. I thought it would help if you could meet some new people - not to replace your other friends! Just... there are so many nice people here in Hinoto-Ri, and I'm sure they would all love to get to know you if you'd just give them a chance. All the people here are my friends too. They're people I've met here, and they're all very special to me, so I was hoping that maybe if you got to know them too, um...

[Yeah, she's pretty much run out of steam now and is just making awkward fidgeting noises now.]

[genkibot]

[Once Yukiko is in the door and settled, she'll suddenly be hugged by an invisible force that is Tachikoma. She'll disengage the thermoptic camouflage a moment later so as not to panic the girl, but it might still be a bit jarring as this is practically a full scale glomp by the blue-haired girl.]

Surprise!! Hi new friend! I'm Tachikoma! Nano told me all about you!

[gigglesnortpriestess]

[AHHHHHH! SURPRISE ATTACK!]

I-It's nice to meet you Tachikoma-chan.

[She would be fine with a hug but seriously, that freaked the hell out of her.]

[genkibot]

It's nice to meet you too! I hope we can be great friends as well! If you need anything, you just have to ask, okay? I'm very good at helping!

[Happy and cheerful, Tachikoma has yet to disengage the hug.]

[genkibot]

[Tachikoma is always happy to make new friends, so when Nano told her about this party, she was pretty excited.

It's probably good she doesn't bump into Yukiko in normal day to day activities or she might have blurted out the secret. She shows up a little early at Shinonome labs, carrying some sort of tub and rings the doorbell.

When Nano answers, she'll be greeted with the tub and a huge grin on Tachikoma's face.]

Hi Nano!! Look, I brought ice cream! It's really good ice cream too!

[Indeed, it seems like she knows from first hand experience. As there's still some of the treat on her face. Still, the tub is quite full, so she probably only had maybe a small bite. Or three.]

[all_wound_up]

Oh, good! I'm sure Yukiko-san will be very happy. You can put it in the freezer - it's in the kitchen down the hall.

[genkibot]

[Tachikoma does as instructed and puts the ice-cream in the freezer. She's walking back through the hall to inform Nano when something catches her eye. Something about the wall...

She taps on it and notices a hollow echo. Pushing slightly on one side, a panel moves revealing a little hidden nook in the hallway.]

Nano! Look what I found! You didn't tell me your place was a ninja house!

[all_wound_up]

[Nano heads into the hallway to see what's going on, gasping as she notices what Tachikoma's fiddling with.]

You found the Professor's secret passageway! She had this built into the wall to surprise me and to play hide and seek.