Winter, December 31st - Minutes to Midnight

[zenoh]

Who: Ayame Sasaki and her friends, and friends of friends.
What: Small party, waiting for the New Year.
When: New Year's Eve, dinner time.
Where: The shrine at Amatsu Inn.
Warnings: N/A, this is a lighthearted log. People can leave top-levels and mingle if they want!


Ayame sent an invitation to those she knows, even the ones she only met once and only spoke with through the network but only her friends were allowed to bring others along should they wish. She offered to celebrate the coming year in her domain at Amatsu Inn, where the ladies who work and live in Amatsu will receive furisode to wear. She prepared a massive feast for days in advance. Mostly so Yuyuko wouldn't eat the guests' food, so Ayame's ghostly girlfriend has her own tables worth of delicacies. Even clearly labeled "For Yuyuko only".

Her guests are treated to a plethora of dishes from varying cultures; starting from boxes of Japanese osechi, Chinese-styled steamed dumplings and meat buns, along with spring rolls. Baked and stir-fried vegetables and roasted meats from pork, to beef, chicken, fish, and ducks are available to go with different types of rice and noodles. Desserts from custards, to bean paste filled breads, to sticky rice cakes. She spared no expense, and even if it made a serious dent in her wallet and sacrificed hours of socializing to make these Ayame feels satisfied to have just made all of it.

Ayame can be seen in an elaborate furisode of her own creation, even turning Himiko into a puppy that could fit inside a purse, just so the gigantic husky wouldn't trample on the table legs. A red Maine Coon cat and a white munchkin cat relax along the rails of the shrine. The host and inn-keeper herself would be approaching her guests, greeting and welcoming them. She says to the ones who are visiting from outside:

"Hello, welcome to Amatsu. I'm glad you could join us! Please, there's food and drinks by the shrine. There's plenty for everyone enjoy yourselves."

To those who live or work at the inn, she is more relaxed and casual in her approach, smiling and complimenting them after a quick glance from top to bottom:

"You look ready to leave this year behind in style. Come, join us by the shrine"

Comments

[zenoh]

"Hmm..." Ayame nods at Konoka's words about her connection to Toshinori. It makes sense that they would meet. She puts the subject of healing aside for a moment to answer Konoka's question.

"Yes, I have fireworks but not large ones. I couldn't afford those even if I didn't spend so much for this night's food" she chuckles, putting a hand across Konoka's shoulder as she leisurely walks with her along Ravenswood's gardens. "I am only aiming for a quiet time among friends, does that sound alright with you? Younger people tend to like flashy displays."

[im_gonna_heal_u]

"Yeah, it's alright with me!" Konoka chirped, more than happy to just chill. "Want to raise a glass when it hits midnight? I'm sure there's some good sake to drink to!"

Konoka just took the shoulder invitation in stride, walking evenly with Ayame as she strolled towards the shrine. "This next year is gonna be busy, so I wanna take the time to relax while I send off the old year."

[zenoh]

"Oh? There are plenty of those. But I'm surprised you want to drink alcohol again" Ayame looks to Konoka, unable to hide her pride and glee at the idea of Konoka drinking. "And that it will be. No matter how the election goes, I have many plans for my businesses."

[im_gonna_heal_u]

"Hey, of course I drink!" Konoka insisted. "I just don't make a habit of it, and I usually try not to buy things that are strong since I'm a lightweight." She thought of Ayame's choice of drinks. "Compared to you, very lightweight."

She does give Ayame a sideways glance though. "Sake is pretty nice, I think it'll go well with the food."

[zenoh]

"Yes, it certainly does." She will say anything to get Konoka to drink. "Especially with the roast meats."

Ayame takes the first step out of the roofed wooden path into the yard a good distance in front of the shrine. She made sure the place was freed of ice and snow, creating a bubble of warmth around the inn to spare it from the winter outside. Though she lets snow still fall from the sky, but melt and evaporate quickly as soon as it touches anything. The tables of food remain hot and fresh; free from any unwanted contact the outdoors bring.

"I made them in a more Chinese method, so it should be unfamiliar and not too different from your usual palette" Ayame says, taking a plate for herself and Konoka. She takes different pieces of meat into her plate without adding any rice. Just so she won't get full so quickly. "Now you mentioned something about healing..."

[im_gonna_heal_u]

Konoka looked up and marveled at how the snow seemed to too quickly melt and evaporate along the shrine and the grounds. It actually added to the pristine feel the snow gave off in contrast to the hotel itself.

"Roast meats? Yum..." Konoka immediately went to peer over it, and found that everything looked so delicious that she actually had to draw back and plan a route of 'attack'. "Oh, so many choices... which one do I pick?" She settled on a few that looked a bit more familiar.

She picked up on Ayame's words. "Yeah! I wanna learn how to heal organs and heavy damage like that when I don't have the luxury of being right there when it happens. My healing strength is middling without my pactio, and I can only use my big megaheal once a day."

[zenoh]

Ayame picks up some chopsticks and points at the char siu/roast pork that she's particularly proud of. It came out plump, juicy, and meaty enough that Ayame can't help but recommend it and sneak in a bite immediately. The meat is as packed with flavor as the glossy skin, which emits that smoky aroma and taste. She also points at the soy sauce chicken to balance things out. It's roasted chicken, only it isn't dry as it is drizzled in sauce. Ayame just blushes with pride as she looks at the display of food she worked hard to make, it was like creating works of art that she could share. Still, her mind didn't drift away from the topic at hand:

"It's possible, but your cup is overflowing."

She moves out of the buffet table, taking a few bites of meat into her mouth.

"If you wish to learn, I can teach you. But you must forget what you know to make room for the new. For what I use isn't magic"

[im_gonna_heal_u]

"My cup is overflowing...?" At first, Konoka can't grasp what Ayame means by that most cryptic comment. Well, it's too cryptic when she's loading her plate with food and then munching on it.

It tastes quite good, by the way.

It's only after listening to what Ayame says next that the context of that first sentence clicks. "It's not magic? Would it be closer to something like chi?" Could Konoka herself harness that AND magic?

[zenoh]

"Chi, magic... They are just parts of a whole" she replies, beckoning two cups with her mind as she finds some place for Konoka and herself to sit on. The cups sit themselves beside each woman, filling themselves up with some green tea out of nowhere. Ayame puts her plate down gesturing with her hand to create geometric shapes out of thin air. Each shape is made to encircle the other, and is made from a different forms of physical and metaphysical energy including chi and mana used in most forms of magical practices.

"My power, which in my world we call Resonance, allows me to harness energy from different dimensions and sources, to influence reality around me"

She explains, closing her hand into a soft fist to disperse the shapes in front of her.

"Resonance is the practice of using one's own will and learning to project it so reality itself bends to it"

Reality warping, in essence.

[im_gonna_heal_u]

"Resonance?" Konoka stared curiously. Now that she could see it up close, Ayame's powers looked strange and yet familiar. Projecting will wasn't a foreign concept to magical users in her world, but using both chi and magic was a thing she only saw Negi (and to a lesser extent, Asuna) do. Still, she wanted to try it, so Konoka sat down and tried to imitate Ayame's focus.

Still, it was a fool's errand to try and imitate her in one go, so all she did was make her own magical power glower. "Awww. I figured it wouldn't be that easy..." Konoka pouted. "It's going to take me longer than that to learn this power..."

[zenoh]

Chi, mana, and other forms of energy she likely have only heard of were there forming those shapes of energy, showing just how many there are and how many of them bends to Ayame's will. Seeing Konoka attempt it got a chuckle out of Ayame.

"Of course, I didn't get from there to here simply by imitating what I saw." she comments, taking some bites of food into her mouth.

"It will take a lot of study and practice to learn to regenerate lost organs and limbs, and I doubt it will be an easy path for you. Resonance is not an easy power to wield, or else entire civilizations wouldn't divide it to different practices of sorcery and chi. To learn even the basics of it you must forget everything you know, allowing your mind to feel like a true beginner once more. Is this something you are willing to consider?"

She didn't mean that Konoka's magic would disappear completely, and Ayame made sure to make that clear in her tone, but she's asking to let Konoka set her prior knowledge aside temporarily to give herself the proper mindset that would learn this new method seamlessly without resistance from what she's already used to.

[im_gonna_heal_u]

"Mmmm..." Konoka at first thought she might have to sacrifice what she already had when she first spoke, but she had been able to properly remove that notion with this explanation. More confident on that now, Konoka nodded.

"Yeah, please teach me!" Konoka clenched her fists in that determined shounen manga protagonist post. "If it'll further my ability to help others, I want to learn it!"

...but then she remembered that this was a New Year celebration and let out a nervous giggle. "Ahhh... after the New Year celebrations, of course. Can't concentrate on it now."

[zenoh]

Ayame takes note of Konoka's determination and feels it in her core, turning into a soft pride for her little sister that made her smile warmly.

"Very well" she accepted, patting Konoka on the shoulder and nodding. "After the elections, should I win or lose, I will teach you what I know"

In the meantime, Ayame is just okay with relaxing with Konoka, waiting for the New Year to come. She picks up her plate to eat her food, still warm even if it sat out in the cold thanks to her power.

[im_gonna_heal_u]

Konoka takes a moment to munch on some of her own food, appreciating the taste.

"I wanna ask, where did you learn the recipe? I might want to try cooking this myself." It would be a nice change of pace for her own cooking as well.

As it neared midnight, Konoka went to get the sake, and poured it into a sake dish, for the old fashioned way. "Chilled by the night air. It's perfect!" She said after the first sip.

[zenoh]

"My, you're a ball of curiosity tonight" She said, teasingly and with a giggle. Already had a sip of the good stuff earlier in the night, there's a faint blush across Ayame's cheeks. "I'll send you the recipes later"

She'll likely forget it. Especially now that she's distracted by the sight of Konoka taking a step further into becoming a true Japanese lady by ingesting some good sake. Ayame pats and rubs Konoka's back in pride.

"Or we could cook something together sometime. I thought about that... Have a cooking party of some sort"

[im_gonna_heal_u]

"That sounds great!" Konoka cheered. "Maybe I can finally take cooking meats to the next level. Maybe even like a shounen manga!"

Something about Ayame patting her back so proudly made her giggle. She could probably guess why. "Hey, me drinking isn't a new thing, you know. We drank together earlier this year!" Though she had to avoid some near lethal alcohol in the process.