[The video shot comes from the Cake Town Bakery, based on the spinning display case of donuts off to the left, and the mural of cupcake-toting robots on the wall behind Orihime's beaming face.]

We here at Cake Town wanted to let you all know about today's specials! Not only is it White Day where I come from, where men traditionally give sweets to women as thanks for the chocolate they got on Valentine's Day, but it's also Pi Day!

[She shifts the video to the side as she gestures grandly to the cake display case, which is now stocked with a multitude of freshly baked pies.]

By which I mean the mathematical symbol, but we're celebrating with pies. Usually we don't carry that kind of dessert, but we worked hard last night to come up with all kinds of fruit and cream pies, and a few special ones too. I recommend the chocolate pecan, it's very rich and satisfying!

[She holds the camera to move over the case so people can get a good look at their wares.]

We're selling them for only ten credits each, and all white desserts are buy one get one free! Just in case you have a harem of girlfriends, ha ha!

[She's...she's kidding, right? Has to be. The video returns to her, and she moves to stand in a way to include Shinjiro making his crepes to the side because otherwise she won't get him to be in the video.]

We also offer delivery and have two very fast deliverypeople ready to fulfill your orders. Please stop in today, and enjoy the holiday!

[Enis doesn't do video's like this but she's been making an attempt at baking all morning. Around noon she finally has something to show for it.]

Happy Pi Day. [She doesn't realize it's also White Day.] For those who don't know Pi is a mathematical constant that is defined as the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. [It's also a Greek letter but that doesn't have anything to do with the day.]

Pi is an endless constant but we round it to 3.14

So I made a pie.

[She attaches a picture to the video of her pie. This is the first thing that Enis has successfully baked and she's feeling surprisingly good about it.]

image.png

I have a question, regarding the weather.

This dimension seems to mimic a planet who's axis is tilted, our location appears to be in the Northern hemisphere...

At what point does spring normally begin? I have noticed the days are getting longer by a few seconds. Forgive me if I sound impatient, I'm... simply rather tired of snow, I'm afraid.

[ACTION]

[Meanwhile, near the outskirts of Genessia City... there's Skyfire! Wandering into the city is really only an 'in case of emergency' thing. It's just a little too tricky for him to keep chancing so often.

But he's got an issue with just sitting in Fayren all the time.

Look, the animals are great, okay? But you can't have a conversation with a doe. They're not well known for their debate skills.

So here he sits, apparently working on... well something. While it's barely large enough to take up his palm, compared to a human, it's just a little bigger than your average Volkswagen Beetle. Some complex, carefully crafted piece of machinery, all well polished steel and chrome, lights flickering across the surface of it as the massive mech carefully solders another wire into place.]

[We interrupt your scheduled broadcasts of pi, pie, and newcomers to bring you one of the dumbest most pointless shitposts of all time.]

[Marco in blue phoenix version, dances and sparkles on screen. Then switches back to human to... you can't call it singing, but deadpan some words about pens apples, and pineapple pens. God help you all.]

Dance time!

[Back to phoenix, dancing. As you do.]

[Locked to Lydia:]

Sorry about the failure to follow-through on dance partners. Meet me somewhere.

[Action]

Waking up had been a shock. It had been a massive shock, going from the darkness of the world-between-worlds of the Garganta and Aizen's form faintly and blurrily visible on the other side of the barrier between worlds. Unohana's presence had been a terrifyingly reassuring strength behind him, replenishing his reiatsu and restoring his robe. He'd drawn his blade, pulled at the Hollow inside of him until that power was wrapped around and inside him, lunged forward to shatter the barrier-

And then he'd woken up in a pod of some sort, with all of his aches and pains gone, no sign of Aizen or the Captains or Karakura, and back inside his own body, which he'd last left in Kon's dubious care. At least he'd found his Shinigami badge in a pocket, though he'd been wary about using it since he didn't exactly have a way to ensure that his body would be safe without him around.

Ichigo lifted a hand to shade his eyes from the sunlight reflecting off of the Bay, holding that odd cell phone in his right hand and trying to digest everything he'd been told so far. This was...well, there was really only one way that he could think to describe the current situation.

"THIS IS BULLSHIT!!!"

--

[Video]

[The camera flickers on to reveal an extremely grumpy-looking teenager, eyebrows furrowed down into what looks to be a semi-permanent scowl beneath orange hair.]

Okay, I've got no idea why the hell I ended up here, but I was kinda in the middle of something important back home. I vaguely got what that hologram-thingy was talking about, but seriously?

[Ichigo's frown somehow seems to get even deeper and darker, even as he looks away for a moment. There's a moment where he looks fleetingly guilty and worried before he wipes it away again. There are so many people who were depending on him- Everyone in the Three Worlds, all of his friends and allies- He can't waste time here. Finally he looks back at the phone, resetting his stance. He's wearing jeans and a plain dark t-shirt, but there's a hint of some sort of badge peeking out of one pants pocket where the camera catches.]



[ooc: Edited to add a title, because I completely forgot that part. Whoops.]

[Off screen there's a voice, but oh if anyone recognized it, they'd know that would only be temporary-]

Back again then, is it?

[A pause, and then a bright, thunderous laugh, the screen coming on to show Reinhardt, yet again, absolutely beaming at the camera]

Guten abend again, Genessia! I see you look just as I had left you!

It is as if I never left, ja?

I believe I left a friend here last time, I could not take him with me, it seems.

Quixote? He is still here?

❝ thanks, I hate it ❞
[ Cordelia has dealt with a lot of shit in her life. Actual devils summoned from the Abyss, spears through her lung, literally dying that one time (she got better). But none had been as much of a shock as this single, tiny woman grabbing her wrist and yanking her into one of the shops in town. How she had managed to sneak up on her is beyond her in this moment, and even if she wanted to ask she cant. The woman will not stop talking. ]

Oh, how beautiful! Yes, yes! You're perfect, my dear! [ There's hands on her, and that's when she finally moves, her own gauntlet-ed fingers grasping the woman's wrist. ]

What are you doing?

I needed a model for my new fashion line, and you are absolutely perfect! Those eyes! That hair! [ The woman practically swoons. ] Hidden under all that metal, it is a shame! But we'll fix that soon enough.

[ Cordelia can barely get a word in edgewise. It's not exactly her style, but the woman's intentions are... harmless enough and she even offers to pay her. With no real reason to deny the request, she reluctantly agrees. For a solid two hours Cordelia is on display inside and out of the shop, wearing a variety of spring-themed dresses. She doesn't look uncomfortable so much as she does uncertain and vaguely bored. Please save her from this hell. ]


❝ unfortunately, I love it. ❞

[ When not being accosted by randos on the streets, Cordelia can be seen wandering — not aimlessly, not really — as she tries to familiarize herself with the layouts of the various cities. Eventually she finds her way to the library — it wasn't hard, the thing is huge — and wanders in. Clad in armor, a sword and a shield, Cordelia at a glance might not look like the scholarly type. but boy are you wrong, kiddo. The Knights of The Quill from her homeland were not named as much purely for their brawn. And Scholar Remiel made sure to drill all the knowledge he could into her head. Answers can come from both people and books, and she intends to at least try and find something here.

At some point, though, she falls asleep, not quite realizing that she hadn't rested properly since her arrival a few days prior. With a book propped in her lap, her head lulls against the bookshelf behind her, her breathing soft and quiet, save for a faint wheeze every so often.

catch her before her nap or after, it's whatever. ]


❝ I hope you're somewhere PRAAAAAAAAYYIN ❞

[ You know what sucks? The fact that no one else here worships the Father of Light. Cordelia, so used to the Garsalian tradition of having a church on every corner, seems all but lost as she wanders aimlessly around for a place to pray where she won't be intruding on anyone else's business. Eventually, she finds a shady spot in a park or something, settles down, and prays silently for as long as she can until she's interrupted.

She repeats this too, for a few days, in the same spot in the same park. Sometimes a kid interrupts her when their ball or whatever wanders too close to her and they have to ask for it back, not knowing that she's deep in prayer and should be left alone. She always obliges them though, regardless of the break in concentration.

A few days in, though, she seems... tired. Leaning against the tree near her spot, she simply stares up at the sky and fiddles with the golden winged necklace around her neck.

What a weirdo. ]

[ There's a simple humming, and the video cuts on with a particular cat Pokemon with black and red fur prodding at Konoka's device, then seemingly realizing that it's on and scurrying away before one of her other Pokemon could get him in trouble. 

Konoka is pulling out some very specialized sweets from the oven. It had taken a bit of work to produce them, and she had help from Essei, but it was so worth it! With a pep in her step, Konoka breathed in deep and called out to the house. ]

OH SECCHAN~!

Please come get your White Day gift!  I'm finally ready~!

[[Action is locked to Setsuna (and Essei/Eva) but anyone can react to the video.]]

( Genessia | Library )

[Seeing Belle in the library is common enough however the last few weeks have brought in Belle more frequently than before. She's looking up information about different forms of literature as well as complimentary teaching guides. Belle is considering becoming a teacher of either literature, language or French but is unsure where to start. She knows how to teach but classes appear to require a more firm structure than the lessons her father had given her.

She pours over books for hours every afternoon before finally relenting and taking the long walk home to her apartment in Genessia. She always has a pile of books in her arms and at times has trouble navigating as she puts away some and checks out others.

Shaymin is sitting with her, curled up on one of the chairs at her side as she closes another guide to teaching.]

I don't know if I can do this Shay.

[Belle exhales a soft breath before looking back at the texts in front of her. She's determined but is that enough?]

( Genessia | Singing - Street in front of Stone Ridge )

[A few months ago, Belle had started building a music box. It is similar to the one her father had made though she doesn't have his eye for art. She has his mechanical mind and while the outside is different, the same song plays through the box as she carefully places the last piece into the clockwork. She hasn't seen her father for almost a year now and she misses him dearly. Belle is comforted by the fact that time doesn't pass the same way in Genessia as it does at home but she can't help but feel as if a part of herself is missing.

As the song plays Belle begins to sing. The windows to her house are open and the sweet sound of her voice echoes all the way to the streets. Belle has a beautiful singing voice but it's also quite sad too.]

How does a moment last forever?
How can a story never die?
It is love we must hold onto,
never easy, but we try.

Sometimes our happiness is captured.
somehow a time and place stand still
love lives on inside our hearts
and always will.

[Belle feels tears prickle on her cheeks as she closes the music box.]

( Riding Horses | Closed )

Genessia City - Midnight

[It's late in the evening when this arrival makes his weary debut.

If it wasn't for the bone chilling cold, Regis would've doubted that he was still alive. He stands out here by the Bay retracing his steps as he tightly clutches the cane within his hand. He's freezing, utterly freezing but despite the dull ache of the cold he wears a slight smile upon his face.

How many times has he washed up upon this shore and seen this starlit horizon? One too many times now. It seems that the gods have no idea what to do with the fallen king but Regis isn't complaining. He knows a blessing when he sees one and despite how often he awakens within this odd world, he's always grateful. And so, he makes his way towards the city ahead with relative ease but not before glancing at the lonely hologram upon the pier.

He gives her a thoughtful glance as he searches for his phone. Once he finds it, Regis hesitates briefly before finally logging into the Network. Uncertainty grips him as he finally records this message.]


...Is it safe to assume that I'm here to stay? I certainly hope so.

I. Around Town/Action
Thank everything she was in her civvies. It wasn't that she fancied traipsing around town in soaked shoes and trousers, but even Catalina had to admit to herself that she already stood out amongst the townsfolk--her military blues would've only added to the show.

Of course, that show included the brunette questioning every talking piece of technology for at least an hour before finally catching on. She'd absently asked questions of the hologram at the Bay  and was now considering throwing the small device asked women up with in front of the next car that drive by.

At least she's paying atten--

"Shit! Sorry, sorry," Rebecca Catalina isn't terribly tall, and she doesn't look particularly imposing, but she had been moving fast enough that whoever she bumped into she hit hard. Waving one hand in apology and offering the other if she's knocked the stranger over, she sighs. "Wasn't paying a lick of attention to where I was going."

II. Video

She has surprisingly not tossed the phone into the street. She's continued pressing buttons on and off throughout the day, and the feed turns on with a jolting view of a mess of curly brown hair and the profile of a new face. She looks simultaneously aggravated and confused.

"--can't even figure out how to turn the thing on!"