Isekai Ryokan Grand Opening

    It's finally done, all the permits signed, all the supplies gathered, all the renovations to make it FEEL like a place you could find back home. Finally done. Hifumi is ecstatic about it all and has been cooking all morning, getting dashi going, making noodles, roasting meats. He's got the grill heated so yaki can be made to order. He's even spent time squeezing juice and cider so that Adventurers have something to drink, even if it isn't alcohol yet, he's working on the booze front for Adventurers. Landers have their regular options for drinks, supplied through Golden Lush dominion.

    Now the Isekai Ryokan is open for business and already some Landers and Adventurers have filed in to start getting food and drink and socilize.

Mikage had been among those who had helped some of the initial stages of helping Hifumi secure this location, so it likely isn't a surprise that she has shown up to the grand opening day. The Were Fang is clothed in her usual furs and leathers, with her hood up, hiding her tattoo from the landers. At her side is a small lynx, who seems to be sniffing at the air, liking picking up on the smells of various things cooking. Miki follows suit, her nose twitching. "You start to forget what a restaurant is supposed to smell like. I could just stand here and soak up the smells."

She laughs softly to herself. "Hey, Hifumi." She calls out, "Brought you a grand opening present." The lynx trails at her side as she tries to flag down the owner.

Goldenblade has arrived. This is a great success for her as she's been having trouble with even the simple things. And then there's the shoe removal. That causes a bit of confusion because most places here go with the western convention of shoes inside, and she's got on thick boots. And she can't seem to find a control to remove them. Finally, she just sits down and yanks off the big, stinky things by hand, sighs, and hands them over to the person that gets the unlucky task of taking them to the storage area. "Er, hello," she says hesitantly. "It was ok to come by, yes? Only I saw the advertisement..."

    Slippers are provided, and later when you go to your room if you rent one, or leave for the evening, the boots are cleaned. Menus are a wonderful thing... just not for food. Hifumi is standing out by the bar sipping from a glass. The human looks smug as any cat who got a canary. "Hey there Mikage." he says "Don't worry." he says about the hood. "No real need to hide in here." he says with a wink. "Welcome to the Isekai Ryokan." he says brightly to Golden. "Please feel free to sit at the bar or if you'd prefer you can be seated in at one of the kotatsu to help fend off the chill."

"Force of habit." Miki admits, giving a glance around the room before lowering her hood. She gives a passing nod to Goldenblade as well, but it seems that she is intent on the task at hand. "Heard you'd gotten everything finally finished up, so I thought I'd stop by." She tucks one hand into her pocket, the other moving through the air as if swiping through menu options. "Unfortunately, I can't stay long, but I was wondering if you might be able to pack something up to go? It would be nice to give Sassaral a night off from cooking for our party."

After a pause, she finally seems to find what she is looking for, and just like that, a trio of neatly wrapped packages of meat appear out of her inventory. "So, I'm a hunter by trade, and I thought that you might be able to use some good cuts of meat. It's boar roasts. Good quality stuff, too."

    Hifumi laughs "Perfect! Oooh that's going to make everyone happy thanks so much. How many meals would you like? Do you want bento or do you plan on reheating them at a camp fire or something?" he asks. Heading towards the kitchen to start putting together a packed meal "And how many in your party?"

Goldenblade bows her head to Hifumi, and says after a moment, "Still getting used to things here. It's a bit confusing, half the things that you do are just controls now, half you still have to do, and which are which trips me up every time." She smiles and will sit at the bar, and will order, sort of. "Anything really. I'm half starved, and most of the food you get here is tasteless or worse." She sighs heavily.

"Just three. Our party is pretty small. Myself, Cyrus, and Sassaral." They were all members of the New World Alliance, some possibly familiar voices on the chimlink. Though, interestingly enough, they were all members of different guilds. "I'm sure we can manage to re-heating. Just want to give the wolf-girl a decent meal since she normally feeds us."

Mikage does a bit more of that menu fiddling to pull out enough coinage to pay for the meals, "I won't steal too much of your time. But I'll be sure to bring the other two by at some point. It would be nice to not sleep rough for a night or two, anyways." She'll linger long enough to collect the meals, pay for them, and then give her goodbyes, seemingly in an unusual rush today.

    Hands over several boxes of dinners that can be reheated to Mikage. Then heads behind the bar. He pats the Cait Sith man on his shoulder with a smile. The man heads to make drinks for the Landers at the bar. "So would you like something quick and snackish? I can do a couple of kinds of yaki, and of course I have udon, as well as omelette rice, and curry. I'm working on katsu and a few other things but... frying is a bit more tempermental over a magic flame than in a fryer basket." he nods to those coming in. "Hello and welcome to the Isekai Ryokan. Please make yourselves comforetable. Up here at the bar, or go occupy a kotatsu and shake off the cold."

Goldenblade looks up to Hifumi, and she says, "That /all/ sounds good. Udon would be a taste of home and no mistake." She looks around, wonders, "The sign said you'd put people to work, does that mean you're still hiring, or is it just a punishment? Only I'm having touble logging out, and if I'm going to be here a while, I ought to get a job, I expect."

Shiruba strolls into the newly opened resturant, tail wagging a bit with anticipation. There was something special about walking into a place that you helped make possible. She felt it with Gwen's shop, and now she was feeling it again. It was a very nice feeling, and that it would be rewarded with access to better food (at a reasonable cost of course) was a sweet bonus.

It also helped make the city feel like the new home it was going to be for the near future, if she was going to start basing explorations out of it.

She noticed Hifumi tending to business as expected and waves to him.

The prospect of eating real, honest-to-goodness home-cooked food for once is impossible to resist. Do you know what it's like to subsist on either tasteless miscellania or tasty but utterly raw and uncooked ingredients?! Of course you do, you're stuck in the game too! And it's /awful!/ Who can possibly live like this? Who could tolerate such a terrible state of things...!?

Nobody should have to, that's who.

"Have you tried extracting oils from plants by hand?" There's a Cait Sith there at the door. It takes him all of five seconds to zip from there to an available kotatsu and sink down into the warm, comfortable softness. "Fuwaaaah, it's been so looooong-- Uh. A-anyway, I think maybe there could be an alchemical solution to a lack of oil if that's an issue...!"

    The red-headed giant makes his way into the newly opened establishment. And shows that at least his boots are practical as he slips them off and into his inventory. Looking around, the red-head whistles a bit. He is muttering a bit on the chimlink, but does make his way over to a sit at the bar. Pulling off his gloves, he puts them into his inventory as well, along with the hammer from his belt. He's here to enjoy himself, not be reminded of work or the like!

    Then he starts to look over the menu, as if trying to decide what to get. And obviously a bit distracted by more chimlink muttering. Finally, he looks over at the nearest person who's probably staff or Hifumi himself, "What do you recommend? I'm not that picky, but a bit distracted."

    Hifumi slips into the kitchen to return with a bowl of Udon and a glass of water chilled with magic. "There you go." he says "Well we are hiring, if you've got skills other than waiting tables, that I is going to be mostly Landers and people who can't pay their tab." he says with a chuckle. "If you know how to cook, brew, properly clean, and I mean all of those things without menu commands." he says "Think on it."

    He turns his attention to the cait sith doctor coming in along with Shiruba. "Hey Shiruba grab a seat, as promised you've got some back log on your tab same as everyone who helped with all the paperwork and redecorating." he smiles and focuses on Prophylaxis "Oooh it's not a problem of oil, or even of technique... it's a problem of hands. Katsu I have to cook and I have to cook it to order. Right now I'm focusing on things I can cook here at the bar like yaki, or things I can cook up in the morning and have the girls serve."

    The older cait sith at the bar offers "Ah the chef would recommend the Udon if you'd like something to warm you up, the yaki if you'd like something a bit more to the taste of most Were Fang."

    "......oooooooodddddddd."

    The moan can be heard from outside. Shortly before Yuuki comes walking into the establishment. She's looking a little down. The reason is obvious though as she complains to no one in particular, "It feels like I haven't eaten in days..."

    However, Yuuki's down mood seems to perk up almost instantly. At the same time, her pointy ears twitch as she hears the familiar voice of a certain Cait Sith.

    "Prophy!"

    There's a purple blur, before Yuuki can be seen once more diving towards Prophylaxis in a (mostly) soft tacklehug. After which Yuuki exclaims joyously, "I haven't seen you in weeks!"

Goldenblade digs in with gusto and sighs beatufically at the first bite. "Ah, this is food," she says. "It's been so long. Even frozen dinners were better than what I've been eating since I've been here." She takes a few more bites. "Sadly, I don't have any skills like that," she replies to Hifumi. "Which is the whole reason why I'm so hungry. I'm a bricklayer by trade, but barring that, I guess I'm not very useful."

Shiruba giggles as she hops up on a seat at the bar. "Well lets start this off right then. Give me something appropriate to celebrate the occasion with!"

Then she shrugs a little. "My experience in working at a cafe is mainly waitressing and coffee, and we haven't figured out the latter yet. But my Hunting skill does have a higher drop rate for meat and such, so maybe I'll find some of that you can use when I'm out exploring."

    Giganpor looks thoughtful, then shrugs, "The yaki, then. I might not be as in tune with my beastial side, but I imagine it will taste good. What do you have to drink as well? I'd prefer tea, honestly."

    He looks over, raising an eyebrow as he sees Shiruba. "Shiruba! Hey!" He waves at her. Hard to miss him, but waving undoubtedly helps.

"Ahh, well that's too bad," Prophylaxis sighs, his eyes shining with the distant longing for deep-fried pork cutlet. "It seems like the Venn Diagram of 'adventurer' and 'actually decent at cooking' has about as much overlap as instant ramen has nutritional content. If katsu curry's off the table, then I guess I'm going to take the udon, unless you guys carry okonomiya---"

There is a purple blur. A familiar voice! An even more familiar maneuver--!

"Yucchan!" Purple Cait Sith practically leaps from under his kotatsu to snatch leaping Imp out of the air. He spins her around once! Then gently plops her back down. "It's been way too long! How're you feeling? You're looking well! I'd heard that Dun Loireag was in a bit of trouble a while ago-- sorry I couldn't make it back in time to help out...!"

    Hifumi smiles at Goldenblad "Well, got any hunting skill? Farming? Animal Handling, Monster handling, animal capture, monster capture?" he asks "Raw ingredients are needed and can be gathered by normal game means." he says "It's finished products that need to be non-menu." he nods to Shiruba "Yah, bring in meat and other goods and your tab will stay paid no problems." he says with a chuckle. The Landers are paying cash rather than trading but they've been starting to accept that Adventurers are weird.

    He smiles at Gigan "Hey you just want cluckcluck or you want offal and veggies as well?" he asks about the yaki. He fills a bowl with soft noodles and pours a ladel of dashi over it along with a slice of rost boar and sets it infront of Shiruba. He pours her a glass of berry juice he had to squeeze by hand this morning. "I can manage tea, sweeteners are still a bit expensive but I do have milk." he doesn't really go into what kind of milk but hey Adventurers should know the beasts available for farming or not ask questions.

    He looks to Pro "Ahh curry I have, but it's just curry rice right now. No katsu. No okonomiyaki either however I might make that a thing if I can figure out the table griddles with magic." he says.

    Giganpor looks thoughtful, "Cluckcluck will probably be better?" He hums at the mention of meat and other goods, then snaps his fingers.

    Pulling up his inventory, he pulls out a lot of meat pieces. Different kinds. Cluckcluck, boar, you name it. Apparently it's been sitting in his inventory space just unused. Along with a bunch of herbs, veggies and others. "Ah, here you go? Least I can do to help out. And I'm not much of a cook, so..."

    He looks thoughtful as he notices something. And his feet wiggle a little behind him. "Huh... never noticed you could feel your toes and stuff in here."

Goldenblade says hesitantly to Hifumi, "I ... don't know exactly what skills I have, to be honest. They seem to have been set automatically, and I don't understand a lot of it." Another couple bites, another sigh. "I heard that things are pretty dangerous, going outside the city, so I've been trying to ... er, level up, I guess it's called, while I'm still in the city. Well, mainly just trying to survive, I guess. There's a lot I'm not clear on. I might be able to capture animals? Or bludgeon them."

    Yuuki gets intercepted in her tacklehug and promptly plopped down next to Prophylaxis. At which point she unequips her boots into her inventory before settling in, "Ohhhh, you know me. I'm doing great! Killing monsters. Dueling people. Tried to duel monsters... But they weren't really into the idea."

    It's at this point that Hifumi mentions that they have curry. To which Yuuki immediately raises her hand and says, "Curry, please! And make it a double. My hunger bar is super low!"

    Going back to chatting with Prophylaxis, Yuuki whistles, "Oh wow, you missed some good fun. So many orcs. It was like an army of them! After we killed their leader we caught them in a pincer attack with our own army. It was great fun!"

Shiruba raises a hand to wave down the bar to Giganpor. "Hi!" She's getting use to not being so short waving is the only way to be noticed, but it's a useful greeting all the same.

Then turns back to Hifumi as he sets food in front of her. -Real Prepared Food-. "You got it!" She leans forward a bit to take a good long sniff over the plate, her tail wagging a bit more. Smell is an important part of flavor, and right now having a canine's enhanced olfactory senses is actually an additional level of pleasantry. "Oh my gosh just the aroma alone is wonderful... but that's not going to fill my appetite!"

... The way she eagerly digs in you'd think she hasn't eaten for weeks. Which is not the case, Shiruba just really likes good food and it shows. Despite her ravenous appetite she is taking the time to actually enjoy it, don't worry.

Just keep in mind what they say about not messing with a dog's food once it's in front of them.

"Enchanted table griddles?" Prophylaxis turns contemplative. His ears twitch with thought. "Actually, that doesn't seem like it'd be too hard. I mean, there'll be plenty of area to work with, and then it might just need a fire spell and regular maintenance to keep going..." Maybe something to look into, on the side...? "Udon it is, then! If you've got tendon, gimme Udon Tendon!"

But there is something here that is important besides food technology. Something Yuuki-shaped...! "Ugh! I wish I could have been here for that...! Fighting slimes in sewers is fun and all, but it just doesn't have the same feel as standing astride a battlefield, setting heaven and earth ablaze and seeing my enemies turned to ash before me--!"

Prophylaxis sighs as he sags down into his nice, warm futon. "Well. I'm sure I'll get another chance sooner or later. There are other hourglasses, after all. And if this place is still operating on any sort of sense of narrative progression, the next one is going to be even more terrible than the last."

They'll need to prepare well...!

"But how've you been, Yuuki? I mean, other than beating up monsters and other players. Are you enjoying this new world?"

    Hifumi nods his head to Giganpor "Apreciated, I'll put all that value on your tab." he says starting the cluckcluck skewers on the grill. "I see, well there are lots of Adventurers who can help you out, take you with them on duties and dungeon raids that kind of thing. You can always find small duties here in town but they're mostly going to pay small ammounts and you're not likely to get a lot of loot."

    He laughs to Shiruba "Don't worry, you want something else there's still plenty of the roast boar and dashi and noodles, not to mention by other options. Also I do bento for take out." he says. One of the human girls heads into the kitchen and returns to put a double order of curry rice infront of Yuuki and goes to get Pro's udon with it's slice of boar "I am sorry tendon isn't something chef has gotten in yet." she says to the cait sith.

Goldenblade peers at Hifumi, and admits, "Yeah, the things you can do in town aren't very interesting, and yeah don't pay well. I don't actually know anyone, is the thing," he replies. "I guess I haven't gotten out a lot. I've mostly been trying to figure things out, but I haven't gotten very far with that, either." She shrugs. "So I'm not really clear on what to do."

"I'll probably come by for a couple of those before I head out exploring," Shiruba comments between bites of food. "Bento boxes are nice, neat and tasty rations." She sips some berry juice and gets back to eating. Om nom nom. So good.

    Yuuki has curry!

    She digs in for a bit while Prophylaxis continues his quest to order food. There's a satisfied 'Mmmmmmm!' followed by Yuuki saying, "This is the first chance I've had to have real curry since this started! Funnily enough most of those doing the cooking don't seem to do deliveries to dungeons..."

    Yuuki happily enjoys the curry a bit more before replying to Prophylaxis, "It's pretty great, here! It's like the old ETO, but everything's new again. New places to explore. New quests to run. Even the old stuff has changed a bit here and there. Lots of newbies to meet. And I find I'm running into some of the others vets more than I used to before. Probably cause our habits have all been disrupted by the change. So yeah. Everything's up and up!"

    Giganpor looks thoughtful, listening in perhaps as he looks over at Goldenblade. "Well, you came to the right place. Mostly. What classes are you? I don't see any markings, so I'm assuming human far as the whole race thing?" He idly munches on his food, smiling a bit at the taste of it. "Good food, chef."

    He looks considerate, "Honestly, I'm not sure how you made it out here. You should probably stick to Alne and it's areas until you learn the ropes." He says towards Goldenblade. "Mostly because it's a safer area. Almost anyone can get used to killing boars or goblins, for example. Here? Bit higher leveled monsters, I bet. I haven't been outside of town to check, though."

    Hifumi nods his head "I'd ask these guys, plenty of Adventurers who can show you the ropes. I get out and about sometimes but I doubt it will be nearly as often now that I've gotten this place open. Someone has to feed the adventurers until I can teach my friends to cook properly hmm?" he laughs grinning at the cait sith working the bar with him.

Goldenblade looks over as Giganpor addresses her. "Classes? Is that Blacksmith? Or Blade Dancer?" She's a Twin Blade/Blademaster, then. As to how she made it out here, she admits, "I'm not sure, either. I'm not /quite/ sure where I am, to be honest. Or how to kill boars or anything." She's /completely/ new. She nods to Hifumi, then, and says to Giganpor, "I guess I should do that, I'm not really figuring things out on my own. And you all seem to have things worked out."

    Mizuki steps in the door and takes a long sniff. The smell of cooking food... how she's missed it! She approaches the bar, "Congratulations on starting your business! So um... what do you take payment in? Regular money? Drops?"

    One ear rotates towards Goldenblade, and then she turns her head. "You put the pointy end in the thing you want to die. I'd start with the porings first if you never fought anything, they're pretty nonthreatening.

"Tell that to the bouncy room from hell in the Alne sewer," Shiruba quips at the mention of porings being nonthreatening.

    "I don't know if I've seen that room yet," Mizuki answers Shiruba, "But all the slimes I saw in there have been higher level than the basic porings."

    "Not really. To be honest, this is new to us all." Giganpor admits, munching on his food in thought. "Twin Blade and Blademaster. Hm." He looks Goldenblade over, then sighs.

    He looks over at Mizuki, "Seriously, please do." He chimes in with Shiruba. "Last time I went down there we had duplicating porings."

    A thoughtful look comes to Giganpor, then he looks at Goldenblade. "Are you any good with the katanas, or are they too long?"

    And then it's Miyako's turn to wander in, almost - apparently - at random. "Oh-ho!" She lifts a hand to wave at the crowd, grinning cheerfully. "Great to see all you lovely people. And to smell such lovely smells..."

    She blinks and looks at the servant-girl approaching her, ohs softly, and stoops to take her boots off. "Right, right. Been so long I'd almost got used to not." She shrugs and hands the boots over with a few coins before turning back to the main room.

"Multiplying slimes is just proof that math is dangerous," Shiruba replies with a sage nod, then works on finishing her meal.

    Hifumi laughs "I'm taking trade in raw food goods, actual coin, or service if you can do non-menu brewing, cooking, cleaning and the like, as well as sewing for uniforms and gardening, farming, beast raising, whatever helps keep the place running."

Goldenblade peers at Mizuki, and asks, "Porings? What are those?" Then to Giganpor, she offers a shrug as to whether she's any good. "I don't really know," she admits. "How do I tell?" I mean, I can swing them, and select powers, I guess. I'm not entirely clear on how this all works. I was supposed to be able to get out and meet people, but I haven't managed a very good job of that, I guess. That's partly why I wanted to come to /this/ event."

    Mizuki hangs her head a little. "I'm a Thief, so I'm only good at stealing and sneaking into places I'm not supposed to be... well, I can also do Appraisal and Cryptography..." She sighs. "Not much call for them though. Well, I have a fair bit of coin from fighting monsters. I've also got some green herbs and monster meat drops, although I'm loathe to part with all of the latter. Are green herbs any good for food or only for antitox potions?"

    She looks back to Shiruba. "Well, computers are basically math and we're trapped in one so I guess I can't argue with that."

    Mizuki looks back to Goldenblade with surprise. "You've been here a month and... you must've seen them! The pink slime things bouncing around outside Alne and Carmina Gadelica!"

Prophylaxis has Beef Udon!

"Ah, don't worry about the tendon. Beef is just fine with me!" And it is indeed just fine. The broth is nice and well-spiced, and it even has the distinct taste of... "Oh wow. What are you guys using for dashi? Are you making it from scratch?"

It's too bad they don't deliver into dungeons... Though there would probably be some logistical issues involved, wouldn't there?

"Pfft. That's a real polite of saying that we don't actually have anything else to do other than ETO right now. I'm not really sure our schedules have been 'disrupted' so much as 'disintegrated...'" Prophylaxis sighs wistfully as he sips a spoonful of soup. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, though. I kind of figured you'd be having a good time of things."

A pang of guilt races through his heart but doesn't quite reach his face. If they're all able to leave, will they all be *forced* to leave...?

If so, then what does that mean for Yuuki?

"Have you given much though to what's been going on?" He asks, instead. "I mean. This whole situation is kind of weird. You'd think if we were still online someone would have just turned off our consoles and we'd wake up eventually, right?"

    Giganpor looks at Goldenblade for a few minutes, then calmly looks back at his food. He sets it aside.

    Then proceeds to slam his head into the counter of the bar. Repeatedly. Again. And. Again.

    He stops for a moment, then comments to the others, "She's a completely new player." Then proceeds to return to hitting his head on the bar.

    A flash of... concern? goes across Mizuki's face as Prophylaxis wonders why they haven't been disconnected yet. She looks back to Giganpor and Goldenblade. "You can't be /completely/ new. What's she been doing for the last forty-three days?"

    "Maybe they have," Miyako comments as she pads over to a corner table, a swipe of her hand bringing her guitar out of inventory to hang over her shoulder. "Maybe they tried it, and our bodies... oh, just lie there, 'cause our minds are _here_. Or maybe they're up and walking around and we're copies." She shrugs. "If that's so, I pity original-me. This is much more fun." With some rather large exceptions, but she's not going to bring that up right now.

    "So," she muses, "Don't suppose you've figured out okonomiyaki yet, 'fumi?"

Shiruba drinks the rest of her berry juice to wash it all down and settles back contently in her seat. "I don't see you having any trouble keeping this place running Hifumi. Not with food like that!"

Goldenblade ehs to Mizuki, "The pink ... /those/ things? We fight them? /Why/?" She's absolutely missed a memo on adventure games. She blinks at Giganpor power-headdesking. She says, "I ... have I said something wrong?" she asks. "Only, the help isn't very helpful, I've found, and I haven't wanted to pester anyone else." As to what she's been doing for forty three days, "Uh, has it been that long? I couldn't log out, so I've slept in-game, I guess. The food from the menu isn't very good, so I've been a bit hungry. I've mostly been hanging around the place I started and trying to figure things out." Not very successfully, clearly.

    Mizuki doesn't look shocked at the suggestion that they're not in their bodies anymore, but looks a little alarmed at the suggestion of /copies/. "What do you mean?! If we're copies we have no lives to go back to! This is fun and all but..." She gestures at herself. "Would you wanna be a catgirl forever?"

    Still a little sour, she mumbles, "I've always wanted to try okonomiyaki..."

    And then Goldenblade gives her something else to be shocked at. "Because you get drops and experience? You can sell the drops to the landers in town for money, which you can use to buy better gear, while the XP levels you up, so both of those things let you fight tougher monsters for better drops and even more XP. It's the core gameplay loop!"

"Not just *cat*girls!" Shiruba chimes in over her shoulder. She doesn't really mind the thought of being a wolfgirl for a very long time. After this, human is kind of boring.

    Hifumi laughs at Miyako "Your the second person to ask, nope, I need to work out table griddles that won't burn the place down first then see if untrained people can actually make food when not using menus so that you don't accidentily get cardboard." he says turning to Shiruba "Glad you liked it Shiruba. Once I have my feet under me there are things to try... monster meats, magical fruits and veggies, strange other worldly spices." his eyes practically twinkle "Like.. cluckclucks are exactly chicken.. they make a good Yaki but." he shrugs "It's different. What about cheeses? Are the Quacker eggs any good... we use to just harvest them for feathers... I mean SO much to experiment with." he says excitedly.

Goldenblade gives Mizuki a puzzled look. "Drops? But how could they have anything useful?" she wonders. She can only shrug about experience, and she observes, "How much can you learn from stabbing one of those things? It doesn't seem like you'd learn much, apart from how many times you've got to clean your sword before it rusts." 'Core gameplay loop' absolutely goes completely over her head.

"Already asked that!" Prophylaxis calls over in Miyako's general direction. "He needs to figure out the table griddles. Though I've got a few ideas about that, myself!!"

Regarding the disconnection, though...

"...If they have, then... The neurological science just doesn't make sense. If my understanding of the technology is accurate, then the VR system interfaces indirectly with our brains to assist in providing a realistic experience. But if the visor is disconnected and the system deactivated, then by all rights we *shouldn't be here.*"

Prophylaxis shakes his head slowly. "...So either we're in some kind of gaming afterlife, or our brains have somehow been scanned and the necessary neurological data mapped perfectly into the system somehow. OR it's just magic and I shouldn't be thinking too much about it. But I don't want to think there's no meaningful explanation. There *has* to be, even if it's just... Like we've been split off or forked, or something. Have our bodies woken up--"

Beat.

Prophylaxis looks at Mizuki for a long, long time.

"You..." He starts, stops, then starts again, "Trust me when I say that there are *a lot* of people who wouldn't mind being catgirls forever."

    Mizuki's ears splay. "Okay yeah there are but... and if that's what YOU want more power to you... But if I'm already out there, then who's the me in here? What'm I supposed to do, just... pretend to be this character?"

    She looks back to Goldenblade, glad for anything else to talk about. "I don't know what the Landers do with all the jellopies but they keep buying them all the same. And sometimes you'll get green herbs, which can be crafted into antitoxin potions if you have the skill."

    She sighs. "Experience Points are a game mechanic. You need them to level up and get better stats and unlock stronger sword artes and wave artes. Special attacks and magic. On the not-game-mechanics side, though, a target that isn't a real threat can help you get used to the basic parts of fighting in here -- attacking, blocking, swinging a sword effectively... you wouldn't want your sword to go flying out of your hand during a fight for your life, right?"

    "Ah, well," Miyako muses as she considers Hifumi's reply. "Well, surprise me, then. I'm up for anything. Except raw tomatoes. Can't stand them." She settles in at her seat and looks over the rest of the place.

    "Frankly," she comments, "Catgirl would be a -lot- better than what I left behind. I kind of like being a Spriggan, though." She'd kind of hoped that flight would be enabled by this point, but, well. She sits back and listens a bit while Mizuki explains gaming to the noob.

    Giganpor meanwhile continues to hit his head on the bar for another minute.

    Sitting back up, he sighs. "Right..." He looks at the others around. "Um..." Then he looks to Yuuki. "Hey, Yuuki? Feel like showing this one how to swing a sword?" He points at Goldenblade.

    Yep, best Giganpor can do right now. Pass off combat teaching to the duelist.

    Hifumi drums his fingers on the counter, his right hand almost always doing this kind of thing. "If that is what has happened..." he shrugs "I'll take it." he chuckles softly "I'll take as much of this dream, or heaven, or whatever you want to call it. If this is electric puragtory it's an eternity I can live with." he says with a smile and drinks from a glass of water.

Goldenblade hrms to Mizuki, then admits, "I guess I've been going about the game wrong. I mean the world -is- interesting and all, and I've liked it so far, even if it's not the thrill-ride it was made out to be." She shakes her head about wanting to lose her sword in a fight for her life. "Well, no, of course not. My son did kendo for years, I know what sword fighting -looks- like. I've never done it myself, but I've got the general idea." He peers at Giganpor, then at Yuuki?

    Hifumi serves Miyako a bowl of udon or a facsimile there to with a slice of roast boar.

    Yuuki is asked if she's given much thought to what's actually happening to them. She shrugs and she takes a bite of her curry, before responding, "Here and there. I figure if we're not out already then something is keeping us in. For some reason or another. Maybe it's some kind of plot and someone is forcing the government to keep us in. Who knows? I certainly don't."

    Yuuki looks up as she thinks, "As far as I'm concerned... We're in here. We're not going anywhere. So we might as well make the most of our lives while we are! Aren't. Whatever." She takes another bite of curry.

    Then Yuuki is quickly volunteered as a mentor. She blinks mid-bite, "Hwuh?" Gulp. She looks at Giganpor, then at Goldenblade. She grins, "Sure! Swinging a sword is one of my best abilties. That and my endless supply of enthusiasm." Though it seems Goldenblade has seen a bit of kendo, "I've never done kendo myself... Outside of a video game. But the basics seem to be similar. I'm sure you'll be fine! What's the worse that can happen? You die and respawn. No biggie."

    "But! Curry first. Swording later." Nom.

    Giganpor sighs, then nods. "Sure. See if she's suited for those swords or if you think she might be better off with something shorter or different entirely while you're at it?" He says towards Yuuki.

    Then he sighs and goes back to his food, grumbling a bit about people not watching for new people wandering around looking lost.

Goldenblade nods to Giganpor, but says, "These are the swords I started with, so I think I'm supposed to be able to use them. Both at the same time, I guess," she adds. "Or else I wouldn't have two, would I? So whatever style I'm supposed to use isn't really kendo in any event. But I've seen fighting, is my point." She doesn't much like the idea of dying, though, and says, "I'd like to avoid that, if I can."

"Please don't die," Prophylaxis groans like someone trying his very best to avert certain disaster with full knowledge that it's a futile gesture. "I mean, it might not do anything, but it's still not good practice for... being... alive."

He shakes his head slowly, "I don't want anyone to be building counterproductive habits while we're in here. Please?"

He looks to Yuuki, then, and frowns. "I really wish 'super shady government conspiracy' wasn't a distinct possibility, but it would sure check a lot of the boxes. If it were up to me, you and the others would be able to spend as much time as you like in here, but... I'm worried, you know? Maybe about too many things."

Cait Siths often have very expressive ear-things, and this one is no exception. They droop even more gloomily as he dwells on the prospect of being part of some super shady government project.

"Uggggh, I'm being a downer," Prophylaxis groans and tips back more of his soup. "Soup now, moping around later!"

Beat.

"Catgirls, wolfgirls, they're all soft-ear fluffy-tail types, it's fine, it's fine. Though..." The purple Cat Sith in the VERY SUSPICIOUS LABCOAT suddenly looks worryingly thoughtful. "Catgirls... catgirls... I wonder if there's a physiological response to catmint...? That'd be a hell of a thing to try to map, hmm..."

    Mizuki looks away and mutters, "Honestly the cat part's been pretty great so far..."

    She looks at Yuuki curiously. "How do you do that? Have an endless supply of enthusiasm I mean. That was.." She sighs. "Back when this /was/ just a character, that was a trait I wanted to play. I thought it'd help me find new enjoyment in the game. But I haven't been very good at it."

    Giganpor sighs, then hums, "The thing is... ah... what name do you go by, lady?" He says towards Goldenblade.

    Then he looks to Mizuki, "Eh, join the club. I joined because I could..." He shuts up rather suddenly, "... ah, never mind."

    Yuuki moves a hand to pat Prophylaxis on the shoulder. She gives him a smile, "Don't worry, Doc. There's far worse fates than being stuck in a world like this one." She takes another but of her curry before asking, "Can you imagine what it would be like if this was a racing car simulator?"

    Mizuki asks Yuuki the Question. And Yuuki thinks about it for quite a bit, going so far as to stop eating. For a bit. Until finally she shrugs and says, "Lots of practice? Like years and years. It can be hard sometimes. And sometimes you fail. But then something happens which gets you back on the right track. Just work at it! You'll get there eventually."

    Yuuki goes back to her food as the conversation switches to race traits, Yuuki admitting, "I prefer the horns myself." She reaches up to poke at one of them, "Very pointy. They're neat. Though I really should try to headbutt a monster at some point... I like the tail too. The wings are a bit pointless though." She glances back at the small imp wings on her back as she waggles them, "Don't even work."

Goldenblade has, in fact, made short work of her meal, pushing the plate away with a sigh and admitting, "This was really excellent. I'll definitely come by if I can find this place again." To Prophylaxis, she nods, "I was advised to treat it likes it's not a game, as far as wanting to stay alive. Anyhow, who -wants- to die?" She looks over to Giganpor, looks about to say something, pauses, says, "Just call me Goldenblade, probably. That'd be easiest. Er, what about you? I guess I didn't ask anyone's names, now I feel bad." It's a bit strange when you can just inspect people though.... but maybe that's considered impolite? Has she been committing a faux pas? Everything here is so strange.

    Hifumi smiles and chuckles softly "Well the wings are cute." he says "And maybe you can work out like some.... I don't know enchanted wing rings or something to make them better?" he asks "I mean there's tons of stuff we haven't learned about our new world. We have our new friends." he says patting the old cait sith bartender on the shoulder. The waitresses still bustling about refilling drinks and dealing with orders from Landers since the kitchen staff can just menu up things for them. "We have new neighbors, and and friends, and we live in a world were we are free ... free of the prison of the old world." he shrugs "I won't stop anyone wanting to try and go back to the old world, but I'm going to stay." he shrugs and taps his fingers "And it isn't even the magic and strange races that will keep me here. It's this." he holds his arms out to indicate his inn. "This will keep me here, and I will become the greatest chef this new world has ever seen."

    Miyako lets the discussion wash over her, listening quietly as she tries the udon, slurping her noodles with a grin. Good food has been far too rare.

    "Dying sounds boring," she eventually comments. "I prefer to avoid it. Besides, I'm in this to see the world, not to kill stuff." She shrugs. "How did the line go... explore a strange new world, meet new people..."

    Giganpor shrugs, "Giganpor." He says in reply.

    Then he seems to consider before he brings up the menu and eyes the time, "I should get going. I have an early morning meeting, unfortunately."

    He gets up, stretching before looking at Hifumi, "If you need any cookware or the like, I can try to make it as well. Just give a holler?"

    Mizuki just nods a bit at Yuuki. Then holds a hand out to Goldenblade. "I'm Mizuki! Well, in here anyway..."

    When Miyako starts that line, she stands and looks off into the distance dramatically, hands on her waist. "These are the voyages of the USS Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life, and new civilizations." She points dramatically into the distance! "To boldly go where /no man has gone before/! ooooo-OOOOOOO, oo-oo-oo-oo-oooooo... oooo-OOOOOO, oo-oo-oo-oo-oo..." She does the whole rest of the intro song, smiling; it's not that long.

    And when Mizuki starts the monologue, Miyako *winces*... then *grins*, flips her guitar around and settles it into position to play, and starts to do exactly that as Mizuki gets to the musical bit. Playing along in almost perfect timing with her doo-dooo-doooing.

    Mizuki is smiling and chuckling after seeing someone else join in. "Ah, you get it!"

Goldenblade nods at what Hifumi says, and admits, "I haven't got that much to go back to, myself, so I didn't mind getting stuck here. My kids are busy with their own lives, and my wife is gone. She'll shake Mizuki's hand, and she chuckles at the strange quote. "Well, this whole place is new life and new civiizations, anyhow. I don't know about going where no man has gone before. That could just mean the women's side at the bath house."

    Hifumi nods to Giganpor "Will do, I might need some things worked out, and if you can find anyone who wants to run a bath house, I'm more than happy to help build one next door." he says with a grin. "Can't have a Ryokan without baths nearby... so far delivering water to the rooms so people can use the menu but it's not the same."

"I can respect that," Prophylaxis says to the cook. "Heaven knows I'm the last person to ever tell you to do otherwise. But..." His expression looks pensive for a moment, as if he'd just taken a bite out of a lemon. "...We appeared here out of the blue. While there are people working on finding a way out, it's not entirely unlikely that we'll be whisked back to our old lives all of a sudden, too. I don't want to put a damper on your dream, God knows it's a good one, just... For your own sake, you might want to think about how to pursue it in case all of us *are* suddenly sent back. You know?"

"The name is Prophylaxis, by the way. Since we're all giving out names."

    "Sent back, huh?"

    ...

    Yuuki raises her hand, "I'm Yuuki! For those I havent met. Or dueled yet. Feel free to ask for one, by the way! I'm always happy to. And you won't even have to die!"

    As for the another conversation going on... Yuuki suddenly blurts out, "Voyager was better." She's sooooo trolling them.

Hifumi says "Prophylaxis?" he blinks "I figure that's a gamer tag for being a healer and not some reference that your an OBGYN or something?" he chuckles "And honestly... I was almost living here anyway, and before that I was basically living in ETOffline." he shrugs "There is none of this in the old world for me..." he shakes his head and nods at Goldenblade "It's a new world here, one where I'm free of my chair, free of my nurses nice as they were... not that they weren't expensive." he says and snaps his right fingers. "And... I can properly cook again... so even if the ripped us out of here tonight... I'd be back tomorrow.. or back in ETOffline if they took this from me somehow."

    A flicker of suspicion passes over Mizuki's face when Goldenblade mentions the wife. "...It's meant in the more general sense of humankind; the enterprise crew had women, too. And aliens. And I liked Voyager, too!" She looks between Prophy and Hifumi. "I know prophylactic is a medical word but I can't remember what it means."

    She looks at Hifumi, and after he comments that he was basically living in Elder Tale, asks "Were you in a medicuboid??" but Hifumi explains it wasn't quite at that point. She nods, sadly.

Prophylaxis offers Yuuki an apologetic look. "I hope... I really do hope that you all can stay in a place where you feel like you belong."

He looks to Hifumi, then, and offers a similarly guilty grimace. "I'm... sorry. I didn't realize. You're quite right though; I am a doctor. Actually, my area of research is *in* VR-assisted therapy, so... This is all a bit close to the heart for me. Please, let me know if you have any concerns that I might be able to assist with."

Mizuki mentions the Medicuboid. Prophylaxis scratches awkwardly at the back of his head and tries to disappear into his udon.

Goldenblade peers at Prophysaxis, and asks, "Seriously?" She nods at Hifumi's comment, though. "I wasn't quite that bad off, back in the real world, but I had trouble getting around on the best of days. Now I feel like I'm twenty again. It's quite nice." She hrms to Mizuki and ohs at the clarification.

    Mizuki sits back down and slumps in her seat a bit. "I wasn't exactly in shape in the real world... But this body is superhuman."

    "I think if you ask around you'll find a lot of people who are - physically, at least - better off here than we were at home. But... maybe it's not the best thing to bring up, either. Because you're going to get a lot of people who really miss it, too. People who left families and jobs and more behind."

    Miyako sighs softly and continues playing as Mizuki finishes. Switching from the Star Trek theme to other science-fiction tunes, a familiar rendition of the Imperial March segueing into the theme from Stargate SG-1.

    Hifumi wiggles his right hand. "Only worry I really have is that this will stop working... or that I might somehow start suffering from the affects of my T12 injury." he says "But since DIVE is direct brain driven I've not run into trouble in ETOffline or in here before or after the black wave." he says. "This the Isekai Ryokan is a place for everyone. Lander, Adventurer, those who want to stay or go. My only rule is this is for everyone and anyone who wants to fight about anyone can take it out side and come back when they're civil again." he nods his head and smiles. "So we can leave the topic at... I'm staying. Everyone else who wants to stay or leave, do as you please, an as long as I can, I'll be cooking here for you."

    "I hope that everyone who wants to stay here can stay here." Mizuki's eyes widen, and she (gently) rests her face against the bar and clasps her hands over her head. "Aww man... this whole time I've been thinking, we'll get out of here, find the people who trapped us, get revenge... But what if they were /helping/? What if they just thought our lives would be better in here, and maybe for many or most of us, they're right?"

Goldenblade nods at what Miyako says about people better off here than in the real world. "That makes sense." She doesn't recognize most of the music, ironically. She tended to watch other shows back home. She smiles at Hifumi, and says, "You can absolutely cook for me any time you like. I'll even pay." What a bonus! She can only shrug to Mizuki. "Well, they could have asked, if it were a deliberate thing, and only trapped the people who wanted to be trapped. So, they weren't helping if they did it to everyone without asking. I'm assuming people on the outside are working to rescue us, because why wouldn't they? But for now, we've got to keep taking care of ourselves. That's why I haven't given up." She's been doing everything wrong, but she hasn't -given up- is the point.

    People on the outside are working to free us! "Unless we /are/ copies. The entire world could not even know we're here while we run on some secret CC corp computer..." That seems to bring her out of it. "But what purpose would THAT possibly serve? So I guess probably not..."

    Hifumi smiles "Heyhey." he says kindly to Mizuki and sets a fresh juice by her head. "hare's something to think about." he says "It's an old saying and I think it's likely to apply here." he says and then leans back against the bar and lets the moment stretch. Seems he's got some experience with the whole doling out wisdom thing as he doesn't wait long enough to make people anxious or angry but long enough to draw attention. "Never attribute to malice, what can be explained by incompetence." he chuckles "Means, we're probably here on accident, they're probably working to get people back to the old world, and in the end. We're here, so live here, strive for what you want, and that's no different than when we were living in the old world."

"Oh God I shouldn't have thought about it out louuuud," Prophylaxis groans and tries to dissolve into the cozy warmth of the kotatsu. "Ugggghhh I've killed the moooooood.....!"

Beat.

Copies, though... What /would/ that mean for them? What kind of ulterior motive might exist for something like that to happen? What kind of ulterior motive might exist if this really /isn't/ an accident? So many things are lined up as if the world was preparing for their arrival, but... Ugh.

Ugh too many theories, not enough data. Ughhhhhh.

"Cookboss," Akira groans from almost under the futon. "You got any good booze? I need to stop thinking so hard or my brain's gonna pop."

Goldenblade admits, "If we're copies, then we should be grateful for whatever window of life we've been given, I think?" She nods at what Hifumi says though, and agrees, "That's true. My old man used to say 'There's a lot more screw-ups than villians.'"

    The chef shrugs "All the booze I have is menu crafted right now... so it tastes like rice water and I have no idea how potent it is or isn't." he says "But you're free to be my guinea pig?"

"So you're saying it tastes like bad sake and will probably make me regret my life choices?" The doctor groans, then slaps his hands against the tabletop. "That's exactly what I'm looking for. Hit me with your best shot!"

    Mizuki nods at Hifumi. "That's almost as bad, from a psychological standpoint. We get out of here and there's /no/ villain? Everyone who was trying to get out will turn on eachother arguing over what to do. But you're right, it's more likely..." She sighs.

    She walks over to pat Proph on the shoulder. "Hey, it's fine. The subject of our situation is gonna come up whenever folks gather."

    Then she stares at Goldenblade. "That's /horrifying/! 'Be thankful for the window of life someone has deigned to give us'? Screw that, even if I'm a copy, I wanna /live/!"

    She blinks. "Oh. Well, that recontextualizes every science fiction story where someone ever gets copied..." She looks down at her hands.

    Hifumi shrugs and nods his head "Your liver and tongue." he says with a laugh "Let me know if a drunk debuff is as good as a night out. I don't drink anymore." he says and nods to the older male cait sith who works the bar. The man takes a bottle of the strongest liquor that has been provided and a shot glass to place on Proph's table.

Goldenblade protests to Mizuki, "I said /if/ we're copies, we should be thankful that we get to live like we're real. Better than /not/ being thankful, is all I'm saying. I want to live, too." To Hifumi, she says, "Hook me up with a shot, too. If it's any good, I'll let you know, and if it's just a strange status, I'll live."

    Hifumi pours a shot glass and slides it over to Golden.

    "I need to see if anyone's got grapes growing around here... need to get started on making a proper wine." Miyako sighs and shakes her head. Still plinking along on the guitar, she looks over at the group testing the alchohol and sighs softly. "I don't want to get drunk, I just want something that goes well with a meal."

    Mizuki ughs. "No!" She poins at Goldenblade. "We're people! We don't thank people for /almost/ treating us like people! Treating people like people is the /bare minimum expectation/ for not being a shitty human being, you don't get a participation trophy for less!"

    She crosses her arms. "If we're copies, first we find OUT that we are, then we ensure our survival. Then... I guess we sort out how we're gonna interact with the real world. Maybe we can trade in memes or something? I dunno."

    She sighs and leans on the counter. "Not like we know anyway. Sorry. Just... the idea that we should thank anyone for treating us like less than people fills me with rage and concern for what put you in a mental state where you think that's acceptable."

Goldenblade knocks back the shot from Hifumi, sets the shotglass down, considers. "Ugh, it does taste pretty meh," she agrees. "One shot shouldn't be enough to affect me very much. Back home, I could generally drink most of my coworkers under the table." She peers at Mizuki, and says, "You're reading /way/ more into my words than I'm saying. I never said anyone should treat us like we're less than people. We think, therefore we are." Descartes fits here, she supposes. "Anyhow, I'm not sad to be here, so I'm going to do what I can to move forward."

    Mizuki shrugs.

    "I'm not exactly /sad/... I've met new friends... I don't know whether I'm copy or whether I was trapped on purpose and whether I have a life and family and friends outside to go back to... but time in here has been pretty fun, at least. Well, aside from the terrible food for the first few weeks. And the time I thought I was gonna die before we learned we could respawn. And getting covered in slime. But on the whole, more good than bad."

    She looks down at her arm resting on the bar. "Should I just try to have as much fun as I can while I'm stuck here? That's what Mizuki would do."

    Hifumi nods "At least, take it as it comes rather than worrying about when and if and how." he says "I'm just going to apreciate that I've got this chance and make the most of it."

    Miyako has been giving it some thought, quietly, as she sits there. Finally, she speaks up. "Don't ask yourself what some hypothetical other Mizuki would do. You're /you/. There is no one else that matters right now. Just us." She strums a few rapid chords, just sliding up and down the scale.

    "Take things as they come. Do what seems right to -you-. Be -you-. Do -you-. Obsessing about what might or might not be happening out there gets us nowhere, and for those who do want out, nowhere closer to /getting/ out."

Goldenblade nods at what Hifumi says. "Same here." She nods at what Miyako says, then asks Hufumi, "Did you say you had rooms here? I've got the debuff, and I'd as soon sleep it off. I can't tell if I'm drunk or not, to be honest, but that's always the case with the first stage of drinking, isn't it?" She nods agreement with Miyako, "That's it. You do the job that's in front of you. Wishing or wondering doesn't change it any."

    Mizuki turns to Miyako and throws up her arms. "But who am I?? The me I was outside was built by experience of a world, of expectations and culture and a thousand other things that don't exist, don't apply, or are different in here!" She claps her hands over her mouth as it's kind of run ahead of her brain at this point.

Hifumi nods his head "Through the shoji." he says pointing to the exit in the back. "You can have number one, first door to the left. You'll get water to use your menu to clean up. Futon and blankets are already laid out." he says to Goldenblade.

"Hey," says the thing called Prophylaxis that is in between its third and fourth shot and about to be in between its fourth and fifth to the one called Mizuki. "Hey, you should think less about that and more about getting a drink. Also, I might interest you in a clinical trial I have in mind. /Also./ Nature and nurture are together the means by which the person is created, but it's only normal to question yourself. To do so proves that you are a living, thinking creature, and thus you can probably get drunk."

Goldenblade nods her head, "Thank you." She stands, yawns, and heads back. "Goodnight, all," she says.

    Mizuki waves to Goldenrod. "Nice meeting you!" She looks back to Prophy. "I never got the appeal of getting drunk. I'd like all my braincells functioning, thanks. What's the clinical trial?"

"That's too bad. Brain cells are really useful until they decide to mutiny and drive their steely knives right into your guilty conscience. But I can respect that," Prophylaxis nods, then takes another sip of awful, awful booze. "Oh, I'm curious if certain substances have an effect on our mental state due to non-human body templates. If it works, it might be an effective stress reliever. If it doesn't, no loss. Probably. Anyway, it'd be nice to know just how much our current bodies are able to influence our mental states, you know?"

    Mizuki shivers at some thought. "I suppose it /would/ be good to learn about this body's susceptibility and tolerance to drugs but I'd rather do it around people I've known a little longer, you know?"

    "It is an important thing to know, I suppose. I'd love to find out how chocolate affects it, for example. If anyone comes across any cocoa beans, let me know."

"Fair enough, can't exactly fault that. It was a whim of the imagination anyway. I'll just have to use myself as a test subject first, fufufufu~" He's... He's probably joking. That's probably the rice wine talking. Right!?

    Yuuki has fallen asleep from a combination of the warmth and the food coma. She leans forward on the table, quietly sleeping.

    But her pointed ears begin to twitch as Prophylaxis starts chuckling maniacly. Yuuki then murmurs in her sleep, "No... Doc... I don't want to do this..."

    There's a pause. Then, "Noooo... I don't want... To learn how to drive..."

    Mizuki just nods. Self-testing seems like a course of action to be expected from someone /who walks around town wearing a labcoat/. Especially an ankle-length one. Someone who wears a labcoat at work is probably a scientist. Someone who wears a dramatically long labcoat all the time is probably a /mad/ scientist.

    Her ears perk up and she looks at Yuuki. "...Man. In the dreams I remember I'm still... outside, or playing in FM World back when all this was a game. I wonder how long before even in dreams, I'm stuck in here..." She looks down at herself.

    "Oh, you get the /nice/ dreams," Miyako muses. "I get the ones where I'm exploring a new house, and it's freakin' /huge/, with secret rooms and stuff all over the place, and then I turn a corner and I'm in the middle of the mall. In my pajamas." She shakes her head. "I s'pose it could be worse. I could've been nekkid." She shrugs and strums the guitar again. "Let's see..."

        ~/ I go down to the brandy tree
        ~/ I take my nose and my tail with me
        ~/ All for the world and the wind to see
        ~/ Never come back no more

        ~/ Sun come follow my happy way
        ~/ Wind come walk beside me
        ~/ Moon on the mountain, go with me
        ~/ A wondrous way I know...

    Mizuki blinks at Miyako. "Used to be school in my underwear. Now it's that I'm back at school at all. I never get the 'There's a test today and you didn't study!' ones though, because that was real life."

    She thinks back. "...I remember my first dream in here, because that whole night's gonna stick with me. I was back in FM World and... we were exploring the new content? Mmh... Some kinda... high tech dungeon? I only remember bits and pieces. And then I dreamed I was driving somewhere with a hill and overly narrow-streets with parked cars on both sides so it was /really/ hard not to accidentally scrape cars going the other way. And whenever another car scraped mine they'd have to get out and hand me some money, or vice-versa."

    "...Man, that's boring. Real life is now a place where I climbed a skeleton mecha, blew up its necromancer pilot, then surfed the skull back to the ground. Dreams are gonna have to /step it up/."

    She listens to the song, ears rotated towards Miyako, tail twitching.

    Miyako bites her lip, realizing she missed a bit, then shakes her head and just continues.

        ~/ I go down to the windy sea
        ~/ And the little grey seal will play with me
        ~/ Slide on the rock, and dive in the bay
        ~/ Sleep on the ledge at night

        ~/ But the seal doesn't try to tell me how
        ~/ To fish in the windy blue
        ~/ Seal's been fishin' for a thousand years
        ~/ And he knows that I have too.

    Miyako pauses briefly, playing a little instrumental bit, and adds, "Yeah, life is... a lot more /alive/ now, if you know what I mean."

    Mizuki rocks back and forth to the music. "It's like it /fits/. We all have special talents that help us serve a role in a group, and we're in shape and get to viscerally fight stuff all the time! I mean, if games weren't engineered to be more engaging than real life we wouldn't play 'em..."

    Miyako nods, "Exactly," she says, fingers still plucking at the strings. "We're fit, we're strong, we're /healthy/, we can /do/ things, instead of just being, being, office drones." She shakes her head and resumes the song.

        ~/ When the frog goes down to the mud to sleep
        ~/ And the lamprey hides in the boulders deep
        ~/ I take my nose and my tail and go
        ~/ A hundred thousand hills

        ~/ Sun come follow my happy way
        ~/ Wind come walk beside me
        ~/ Moon on the mountain, go with me
        ~/ A wondrous way I know

    "Man, I wasn't a /drone/, I was IT! I got to dick off all day, then be the hero whenever someone accidentally deleted their document but didn't know how autosave worked, or opened the email attachment they shouldn't have -- back before Altimit anyway -- or whatever."

    Beat.

    "But yeah being part of a team and working together is kinda more satisfying than sitting away from everyone else waiting for a fire to put out."

    Beat.

    "You sing really nicely. I think I'd like to get more into music, in here. Kaleido is starting a band to do covers of real life pop songs."

    Miyako -does- have a nice singing voice. It's one of the things she really likes about this avatar. If she couldn't sing, she would be -really- frustrated. "Oh, I was IT, too," she says during another little instrumental interlude. "I even got to spend all day painting minis at my desk. It was... fun, in its way." And then...

        ~/ Someday down by the brandy tree
        ~/ I'll hear the Shepard call for me
        ~/ Call me to leave my happy way
        ~/ And the shining world I know

        ~/ Sun on the hill, come go with me
        ~/ My days have all been free
        ~/ Pipes come a-laughin' down the bay
        ~/ That's the way I'll go
        ~/ That's the way for me.

    She finishes the song with a single chord on the last word, switching from minor to a major key to add a bit of brightness to it.

    Mizuki blinks. "Really?" She listens, smiling a little more at the key change. It indeed brings the song to a satisfying conclusion! She claps.

    "...Minis? For like, D&D, or for tabletop wargaming?"

    Miyako hmms, "A bit of both, really. Mostly wargaming. Some modern pulp stuff -- I had a very nice detective agency and dockside mafia gang going - and some Japanese fantasy-historical stuff, too. Armed monks, samurai, ninja, that kind of thing."

    She sighs a little. "Don't know if I'll bother to try to rebuild that here. I was only ever a sculptor with three-dee cad software."

    Mizuki oohs, "You had a 3D printer? Cool!" She strokes her chin. "I dunno, playing wargames and RPGs in here seems a little... eh. Although, maybe it'd be nice to get a break from being a catgirl ninja and pretend to be something else for awhile." She grins. "I wonder if the landers have any boardgames like chess or something?"

    "Yeah, not the best model, but a nice little thing. Decent enough if I didn't try to get too tight on the detail." Miyako hmms softly and leans back in her seat. "Chess, probably, maybe something Shogi or Go like... Mmm. I liked economic games. Railroad stuff, that sort of thing."

    Mizuki nods a little. "I never got to play those sorts of boardgames for the most part. I got Risk 2210 but only got to play it like two or three times. Some of my friends played them a bit but we preferred tabletop. Y'know, back in the day," Mizuki holds a hand to her chest, "I was the one who figured out that a multiclass Duskblade can use Channel Spell with their other class's spellslots, allowing for Duskblade/Wizard/Spellsword/Eldritch Knight or the like to focus on buffing their full casting and thus get access to powerful utility spells without sacrificing their ability to do ridiculous single-target blasting. The Sage confirmed my interpretation of the rules."

    She looks proud, then unsure about whether she's pegged Miyako's interests correctly. She said she plays tabletop RPGs too, sure, but maybe she preferred Storyteller or something.

    "Hrm... Three-dot-five?" Miyako considers. "Been a long time since I picked that up. Three, four years, I think. Since before I moved to Tokyo this last time." She pauses for a long moment, considering. "No, wait, there was that silly epic campaign that Argon was running... I was only in four-five sessions before they changed schedule and started at like my six a.m., stupid time zones."

    She shrugs again. "Lessee... Gloura, gestalt Bard and something Fighter-y... I wanted to go Spellblade..."

    Mizuki is relieved that Miyako knows what she's talking about, tail twitching happily! Although she makes a bit of a face at the end. "You were gonna use spellblade on a two-thirds casting class? Eh, I guess with Gestalt you don't have to worry as much. Could probably have asked for a homebrew prestige class that uses both halves of the gestalt, really... Oh man, talking about this stuff takes me back. It's like, a nice reminder that another whole facet of my outside life really happened, you know?"

    Miyako shakes her head. "No, spellblade's not the right name... can't remember now. Book of Nine Swords stuff, all the wuxia bullcrap." She mutters under her breath, trying to remember the class name, but it doesn't come to mind. "Damn, it's been ages." She sighs softly. "Yeah, don't think those kind of games are going to make much of a comeback here. You should get me going on about some of the other stuff we did... I had a group in Boston, we got together every other weekend, had these huge railroad/economy games that took all day."

    Book of nine swords? "Oooooh" Mizuki nods, "I gotcha. Nice, I didn't get to play around with that much." She sends a friend request. "Man, this is so cool running into someone from back home here. We might've even run into eachother at a con or something!"

    She blinks, then gestures at herself. "I mean, I looked nothing like this."

    Miyako accepts the friend request, nodding. "It's not impossible. Of course I didn't look like this, either. If I had, I'd have -so- been in the cosplay contest." She stifles a yawn. "Oh, man. Been up waaaay too long today."

    "Ohhh, yes! There's so many more costume possibilities now! I mean, um... well, you know how it is." She smiles awkwardly. And seeing Miyako try not to yawn makes HER yawn. "Me too... we'll have to talk more later!" She's still pretty excited to meet another tabletop geek.

    Miyako chuckles softly, and swipes her hand over the menu to put her guitar away. /So/ convenient, that. "Right then. I'm gonna take advantage of one of those rooms 'fumi was offering and get some zee's. Catch you tomorrow?" She tosses a few coins on the table, as she rises.

    Hifumi nods "Go ahead please enjoy your sleep you will be given wash water." he says as he keeps tending his customers till closing for the resturant and heading to his own room.

    Mizuki smiles. "Sure! I guess I'll do the same. I look forward to breakfast!" She heads towards the rooms.