Cold Spot Hot Pot Party

The weather was unusual in Dun Loireag for the beginning of August: where it was just a balmy 75 degrees farenheight not three days prior, and now it is a frigid 12. It seems the weather has been highly erratic, and yet, it seems the Coolest Cat in ETO expected such weather fluctuations somehow, as the theme of today's party is Hot Pot, Kotatsu, and Sake, three things that the Japanese people tie together synonymously with Winter.

And there, within the warm welcoming atmosphere of the Isekai Ryokan is a completely relaxed grey and white Werecat dressed in a comfortable green yukata, scarf snug around his neck. His lower half is hidden underneath the kotatsu, which has a large Hot Pot in the middle, though it has yet to be turned on, and the meat and veggies have yet to be served.

Nyanta is currently snacking on various kinds of sushi, which is contained several small, black boxes, accompanied by a soothing green tea. The Old Hat Cat looks to be enjoying himself; the calming aura he eminates seems to be spreading to the staff as well.

Goldenblade enters the Ryokan and shakes off the cold. "Gah," she comments at the unseasonable weather, then, spotting Nyanta and the kotatsu and hotpot, calls out, "Hey, Chief. Expecting company?" She steps inside to absorb some of the warm, though she has enough Fire in her nature that she's never cold. She just has to think about it, and she radiates heat quite fiercely, relaxing visibly after a moment. Now that she understands how this works, sort of.

Nyanta opens one eye as he gives Goldenblade a sideglance, smile plain on his face as he finishes chewing the eel roll, and politely swallows. "Why, yes, myai good furr-end, I do hope so, nya. I sent out an invite to EVERY adventurer, so I hope the turnyaout is at least a handful, nya."

He closes his eye again and carefully chooses a salmon roll, carefully lifting it with two fingers, "Did you recieve my invitation, or did you come myeerly because it is the purrfect weather for Kotatsu, nya?" He carefully places the whole sushi in his mouth before slowly chewing, savoring the flavor.

Goldenblade uhms hesitantly when asked if she got the invitation. "Maybe?" She was never good with the mail system and generally relies on word of mouth for her information. "But on a day like today, some hotpot sounds perfect." She will settle into the kotatsu, mail clinking a bit, and she wonders, "Were you expecting this weather somehow? It seems like perfect hotpot weather, but it's pretty unseasonable." She will settle in and check her placesetting, grabbing the pair of chopsticks and taking an eel roll for herself, if it's for the table. She clearly enjoys eel roll.

Wrapped in a heavy mantle, Shenmi crosses the threshold into the Isekai Ryokan. "Ah, the weather. Everyone's favorite conversation opener has graced us with some interestingness to spice up our chit-chat."

An emphatic twirl in place, and the mantle is doffed. "Greetings, fellow Adventurers!", Shenmi exclaims, as he throws the mantle sideways, without even looking. It lands neatly on a coat hanger's hook. "I have heard that celebrations are afoot, this fine day?"

As if they were only waiting for a specific number of guests to arrive, one of the two kimono-clad servers appears beside the Kotatsu to turn the Hot Pot on before bowing and taking her leave.

Nyanta flashes Shenmi a smile with a greeting, "Welcome to the party, nya! Celebrations are indeed afoot, and the moar the myerrier, nya!"

He turns to Goldenblade, "Oh, would it not be better to leave that question unyanswered to add to the myihstery,nya?"

Goldenblade looks up as Shenmi arrives and smirks at the Connery-esque hat toss. Or maybe she's the only one that remembers those old movies. "Hello there," she greets him, and nods about the celebrations. "As I was reminded," she says, and looks over to Nyanta, who's the instigator of all this. As to whether he expected it, she shrugs about the mystery. Mystery is not generally a thing in her life, other than via Angela Landsbury, and she says, "Then I will assume you know, through some agency I do not understand, and then it will be like everything else I know about you."

There was mention of tea parties. That is more than enough to draw a certain foxwoman out of her literary tasks to come for a visit after learning of the events. Though upon walking into the Isekai Ryokan, Daiyu's gaze first falls upon a certain magician. "Somehow, I should not be surprised. I'd almost think you are here wanting to try and make a date out of it," she teases Shenmi. Not that it would be the first time they had done social events together. After that little exchange she walks over and bows gracefully. "And greetings to the rest of you as well."

"Lady Goldenblade! Nice to see you here!", Shenmi greets, before turning to Nyanta again. "Excellent, my dear friend, excellent!", exclaims Shenmi, as he rubs his hands into recovering some heat. He's still shivering a little. "You really know how to throw a party! Hot food-"

That sentence sounded like it could have had a period right then, and he goes silent as he spots Daiyu entering. On purpose. To let her talk.

"-Attractive women," Shenmi grins, stage-pointing at Daiyu just like he used to do on stage a long time ago. "You've got the works, my dear fellow. A man-" Quirk an eyebrow. "A cat of taste, indeed!"

Playful, with an exaggerated eyebrow wiggle, he leans in the general direction of Daiyu. "Hey, you're the one who called it a date. Not me." At which point he rubs his goatee. "Hmmm. You -do- look like an interesting lady, and I am sure we would have a great time together..." He looks away, frowning a little, as, with a flourish of his hand, he keeps his hand palm-up, pointing slightly at the ground, while holding up the corresponding elbow with the other palm. "On the other hand, I am focusing on my career, right at this moment... hmmm...."

The smell of the Hot Pot begins to permeate the air as the first signs of simmering begin to appear on the oil's surface. Seemingly out of nowhere, small, saucer-like cups appear on the Kotatsu, one for each person currently in attendance, and then he carefully pours a rose sake into each cup.

Nyanta bows his head deeply to Daiyu, "I welcome you to our purrty, nya. May you relax and enjoy rrrespite from the inclimate weather, nya."

To Goldenblade, he chuckles, "Oh? Am I fully a myihstery to you, nya? Well, feel free to inquire, and I shall try to answerrr to your satisfaction, nya."

And to Shenmi, "I am a firm believer that we are all beautiful in our own way, nya Some just... have a way of myayking their beauty moar visible than others, nya." He gives a polite nod to Daiyu.

Goldenblade looks over at Daiyu as she enters and greets Shenmi. "Are you two dating, then?" she wonders, drawing the wrong conclusion. She smirks at Shenmi's greeting, and laughs as he's called 'a cat of taste'. Because it's true. To Nyanta, she says, "I've inquired before, and you'd said, but I didn't understand then, and I'm not likely to understand now, so I'll just live on with the assumption of collosal cosmic power."

"Our previous partnership was purely professional," Daiyu replies before anyone can ask too many more questions than Goldenblade already did. "And while I am quite glad to have old friends at hand once more, there is a... lot of catching up to do." Followed by a soft snort and a playful flick of a few tails. "At least here you can hold your shows when and wereas you desire."

She accepts the cup of rose tea. "Thank you." Though she squints one eye a bit as she does. Likely the literary in her trying to determine if that is an actual vocal tic of some kind, or if Nyanta is just one of those people so 'into character' that they include the cat sound puns in their speech.

"I do, in fact, look quite swell, if I dare say so myself," Shenmi replies to Nyanta's comment about beauty. He even lifts his hat to sleek his hair backward, with a grin.

"Definitely so when we were in showbiz," Shenmi adds to confirm his professional relationship with Daiyu. "And before then we went on a bunch of quests together," he reminisces, while he looks into his own cup of tea. "I don't know if you include those as well in the 'professional' label. Unless you never told me you were a professional gamer. Which would make a lot of sense. Keep your day job as a professional gamer, while you try to make a name for yourself in the niche world of... whatever your hobby was." He quirks an eyebrow. "Spreadsheets and accounting? That's the most common one." There it comes, the grin of mischief.

Grin of mischief that swiftly softens into a melancholic one. "Lots of catching up to do, indeed." He lifts the cup, for a sip.

The Hot Pot comes up to a full boil just as several trays of thinly sliced meats, veggies, dumplings, tofu, noodles, and other such items are brought to the table, two trays at a time. When all is said and done, the entire table is covered with items to dip in the burning broth. One of the servers turns the Hot Pot down to a simmer, bows, and takes her leave. The Hot Pot... is READY.

Nyanta looks to Goldenblade, then to Daiyu and gives a nod to each, "Etiquette, of course, requires that the ladies be allowed to go first, nya."

Goldenblade ohs as Daiyu indicates the relationship was purely professional. She seems a bit skeptical, but her background does not contain working women. She left America in the 50's, and even when women entered the workplace in Japan, they did not become bricklayers. So most of her experience of working women is stories of her sons' coworkwes and friends' working daughters, so entirely secondhand and anecdotal, and of course the interesting anecdotes were seldom about actual work, but focused on interesting scandal.

But Shenmi's explanation adds some clarity. Sort of. Spreadsheets and accounting were evils that caused problems for bricklayers, never solutions. But when the hotpot is ready and Nyanta invites ladies first, she defers to Daiyu. She knows she's technically female here, and no Lander would doubt her, but attutudinally she's completely male, as was her player, and she makes no attempt to hide it, nor has she ever. It's very weird for her, still, if only because it actually rarely comes up. Gamers are a much more egalitarian society than RL ever was.

There is a brief squint. Then Daiyu realizes that Shenmi is being obscutating on purpose, and just goes along with it, smiling a bit. "Not 'professional' gamer, though I did enjoy the need for strategy and precision that go into some such passtimes." Then her attention is turned back to Nyanta as he announces the Hot Pot is ready. She looks to Goldenblade, and not really knowing enough to know she's not all her appearance, simply takes the offer to go first as politeness to another guest. "More gracious of you."

True to her mystical fox species it is the tofu she goes for first, to dip in the hot broth that's been provided. That, and tofu is in it's nature intentionally somewhat bland in flavor, so using it properly sample what the broth has to offer is the most logical choice to her, as much as maintaining a species preference.

"I agree with the gentlecat here," he says, removing his hat. "Ladies first, indeed," And will wait for Goldenblade to pick before him.

"With my superior powers of divination-", Shenmi begins, pinching the bridge of his nose, in concentration. "I can tell that Lady Daiyu here will pick... will pick..."

"...tofu," he finally says.

Of course, he starts talking right after -everyone- (him included) has already seen what Daiyu picked.

Nyanta applauds Shenmi, despite the obvious delay in his prediction, "Such an ability you have purresented. I should daresay it rivals myai ability to purredict the weather, wouldn't you say, nya?" He winks at GB. Regarding his choice, the cat man goes for the shrimp. He barely lets it cook at all in the broth before removing it.

Goldenblade shrugs to Daiyu about being gracious. "Er, thank you," she says guiltily, looking between Daiyu and Shenmi. "I think most of Yamato knows, but male player here. So I don't think of myself as female. Just an old in a strange costume in a funny old game. They tell me that I use female pronouns when I speak, but that's just the auto-translator." But then at Shenmi's comment, she will dig in as well, and shrug. It's easier than explaining sometimes. She smirks as Nyanta praises Shenmi's amazing skill at observation. "Amazing," she replies to the cat.

Daiyu ahs softly, nodding to Goldenblade. "I see. Well, it is best for you to be who you think you should be." Nothing more really needs to be said on the matter. Probably not a surprise, Daiyu has enough experience with being pressed into being other things. The matter is set aside though, because there is the current event before them to enjoy. "This is an interesting serving method you have presented... Nyanta, was it?"

Shenmi nods at Goldenblade. "I see." After Goldenblade has, nonetheless, taken her serving, he goes for the meat, and some noodles. "I suppose you'll be particularly motivated to help us climb the tower and find our way back home," He mentions, casually, before starting to chew.

Daiyu does manage to distract him from this line of thought, if temporarily: he nods in agreement to her expression of interestingness in regards to the serving method. "Indeed. Classy, my good pal," he adds to Nyanta. "I like it."

Nyanta nods to Daiyu while looking at GB, "You do have the right of it, nya. When I was teaching you the ways of the blade, Goldenblade, ettiquete was diffurrent, nya. Then, you were to treat others as they purresented; this was purrotocol, nya. I apologize if I was remyihsce in myai duties, not only as a gentlemyan, but also as a furriend, nya."

He touches GB's hand and bows his head. "Furrgive me, nya."

Goldenblade snorts at Daiyu telling her to be who she thinks she ought to be, and she says, "I think I /ought/ to be a seventy-seven year old man. My son said my avatar would look like /me/ when I entered the game." And clearly didn't explain about the randomizer, it seems. "It's ... complicated my life, let me tell you," she says with a sigh between bites of food. "I heard there were items that would change your gender, but they only change your appearance and not like your name when you're inspected. That'd be too weird to explain to people." As if her name completely overflowing the little info block didn't beg explanation. "On the other hand, the game doesn't seem to care whether you're male or female for physical abilities, so... it's not catastrophic. I can build and lift stones and bricks the same as I ever did back in Japan, so that hasn't changed."

She nods to Shenmi about climbing the Tower. "Oh yes, I've been on a few Tower Climbs. But I understand the Palace Lands got a different message on how to get out of the game?" She shrugs to Nyanta, and admits, "It'd just confuses the Landers if I made everyone treat me like a guy in this avatar, so whatever. I see it as just another weird part of the game. The game's got so many weird bits as it is, what's one more? You're fine, old friend. Nothing to forgive."

Daiyu snorts softly. "More like nothing at all. And the lack of direction or motivation is part of what eventually caused the problems the Palace Lands have had." She picks up a piece of meat and dips it in the Hot Pot. "People who had little choice in their lives, suddenly given more than they knew what to do with, and no direction or advice in what to do with it. So in many cases, chose poorly, compeling the Lander governments to take... drastic measures to keep -their- way of life from being wrecked... it probably would not of been so bad had it not been for finding out about the Crowns and putting them to use." She gives a brief shake of her head. "And that in itself is still a conundrum as well," she finishes, then plops the dunked meat into her mouth.

"Indeed," Shenmi confirms. "We got no big hologram man like you did in Yamato, back in the Palace Lands," Shenmi explains. "Oh, sure, there were people who -claimed- they knew what we had to do. But you know, there's always one." He gestures to Daiyu. "Which reminds me, that's a subject we never addressed. Do you know more of how the Landers found out about them?"

Daiyu shakes her head. "The leaders are no fools, they kept their strongest secrets closest to their chests. And at the time, we simply did not question it, as any thought to do so was quickly silenced by the item itself."

Nyanta quickly changes the topic away from the awkwardness of misgendering his friend and moves to the more interesting mystery of the game, "Have you considered, possibly, that there are different victory conditions for those who started in Nyamyato than the others, nya? Purrhaps the Tower is but one path for us to take, nya. Purrhaps there are myenny that need to be taken, nya."

Goldenblade winces at the mention of Crowns, and says, "That's definitely not a fun business. Sounds like a bad time all around." She ahhhs at Shenmi, and says, "It's true, there's always someone who will tell you what you should do based on guesswork. It rarely works out," she agrees. She nods at Nyanta's supposition, that Palace Landers had been told there was a different way, "I think I heard that. And that had a hand in instigating their Landers hatred of players." As for the awkwardness of misgendering, she shrugs that completely off. She's old and partly isn't bothered by it, and partly finds it understandable and reasonable, so it's not a crisis for that reason also. She finishes her hot pot meal and pushes back from the table with a sigh. "Delicious as always, Chief."

"That's the interesting thing. Yamatoans were, apparently, told to climb the tower-s-. Plural. A message that was corrupted the first year around, but could be heard more clearly on the first anniversary of the Apocalypse. Still in Yamato, of course" Shenmi rubs his chin. "There hasn't been much further detail said out loud, I seem to gather, but... that is a good question. Does it mean that climbing a different tower will result in a different ending?" He looks away, stroking his goatee, lost in thought.

Nyanta stands as GB and does, properly wishing everyone well as they head their separate ways, "I hope to find anyather lo-cat-ion that is up to this standard, nya. I have a plan, after all, nya." He twirls one of his whiskers like it was a cartoon villain's mustache.

To Shenmi, he gives a somewhat knowing wink, "Love with your heart, use your head furr everything else, Nya."