player event: spring speed-dating festival

[socialize]

Speed-dating Spring Festival

Believe in your flyness, conquer your shyness.

breaking the ice

Lonely and looking for love? Friends, maybe? Well look no further—the ASUNARO-sponsored Spring Speed-dating Festival has begun. Join us in room 3-A, where participants will then be given an assignment of "even" or "odd" and seated at a numbered table. You only have so long to talk to your partner before the bell rings and it's time to move on, but not to worry, if you find someone you like, the two of you can step out together! At the end of each round, "even" players will stay at their tables, and "odd" will move to the next. This is mostly flavour, but there is one important piece to keep in mind: in the interest of nobody being left out, leaving before the end of the event is only allowed in pairs.

Better hope you find someone you click with!

Icebreakers:

1. Do you have a party trick?
2. Exploring or lazing on the beach?
3. If you could be granted three wishes, what would they be?
4. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?
5. If your friends compared you to an animal, which animal would it be?
6. A human hand extends out of the toilet! What do you do?
7. What would be the title of your biography?

Or anything else you can think of!

getting to know each other

So you've found someone you vibe with—congratulations! The next step is getting to know each other a little more. Cementing the bond, y'know? But high school is maybe a little young for marriage, so let's stick to the dates.

For the duration of the festival, classroom 3-E has been transformed into a makeshift movie theatre. Stop in with your date to watch one of these heart-racing movies, guaranteed to bring you and your date closer together! For the more romantic of the bunch, classroom 3-B will be home to dance lessons. Find a partner and get to know a Waltz, Argentine Tango, or request another, and try not to step on each other's feet as you get up-close and personal.

Movie showings: (CW: They're all horror)

April 25: Other Side of the Box
April 26: My Best Friend's Wedding
April 27: The Ballerina
April 28: Don't Look Away
April 29: The Mandela Catalogue Part.1

together forever

At the end of the event, two lucky winners will receive a secret grand prize!

Anyone else who finds someone willing to pair up with them can write both of their names for entry into a raffle for a runner-up prize. Winners of the raffle will be given the choice between riches, quality of life, or valuable information as a thanks for participating and a congratulations on their new life together.

Comments

[decrypter]

That's...not very likely, Alice.

[how does she say this in a kind way, that doesn't portray her bitterness? how does she explain to him what she knows of as facts in the world?]

I'm not someone who would be chosen for that. I've known that for a long time. As self-sufficient as I can ever get, no one would think about a serious future with a woman who couldn't give what was expected to a home, when she needs care herself.

[it had been carefully, firmly explained to her. and it was better that she avoid flirtations that only would seek to toy with her than to hurt herself trying for the impossible.]

So what I do learn...comes from books, and secondhand accounts, and what happens around me. That's what I mean.

[shimashima]

[ Hearing that, Alice sits up with such sudden force that he almost knocks his chair over. ]

What?! That's—

[ Ridiculous, he wants to say. It's utter nonsense! For one, Helena is easily one of the most capable people he has ever met, and the idea that anyone would reject her as somehow inadequate based on antiquated notions of a woman's role and her blindness is appalling.

Then it occurs to him that Helena genuinely believes it, from beginning to end — that such thoughts don't materialize out of nowhere. She states them as though they're facts, a reality that she has resigned herself to accept, but surely it hurts her, if it makes her feel alone.

Alice searches for more careful words to disagree, ones that won't trample all over Helena's feelings on the matter, treating her as foolish. ]

If anyone thinks such things, they would plainly be no one worth your time...!

[decrypter]

[the intensity in his words surprises her. why does this catch him off guard? why do these ways of the world that she knows seem to confuse him so deeply. startled from the sound, she can only blink, lost at his statement.]

But isn't that most people? Someone would have to be extraordinarily patient to be otherwise. And if there were other, more attractive options for companionship, naturally they'd gravitate to them.

Really, Alice...you don't have to spare my feelings for this. I already understand.

[shimashima]

Helena...

[ The name alone is uttered in protest, dismayed, and there's a great deal that could follow immediately, in a torrent, if not for the realization that Helena would see it as nothing more than forced politeness. If she thinks of herself as such a burden, tolerated at best, all assertions to the contrary sound like lies to her, don't they?

The strain of holding back leaks into Alice's tone. ]

Have they said so? Other people?

[ That Helena's company could only ever be an obligation to put up with, that it's some kind of sacrifice or a last resort to endure it? ]

What sort of selfish— Then they can have a serious future with a battery-powered vacuum cleaner or a microwave oven until they reconsider their absurd priorities!!

[decrypter]

That...that doesn't make sense. Who'd do such a thing?

[it's a tissue thin shield to hide what she really means. how could it be selfish, to consider a future with someone else? if they needed someone more capable, then that was what they needed. so why does he react so vehemently to the idea? it's painful to admit these things, to say them aloud, but him countering it...]

...is...that not how it is?

[at least in his world?]

[shimashima]

It's the life that the likes of these types would deserve!

[ Of course no one marries household appliances, but that's beside the point! Helena seems taken aback, however, put on the spot, and Alice wonders whether she's reluctant to point fingers at anyone, even if they aren't anywhere here to see the error of their ways. Identifying them isn't necessary, at any rate — the thoughts exist, convincing Helena of things that aren't true. ]

I won't pretend that everyone even in this day and age disagrees with that kind of thinking... But I doubt that most people seek relationships based on such expectations! Other factors are far more important — emotional connections, for example. I'm sure of it!

[ A "serious future" would be incredibly unfulfilling, if the relationship is closer to hiring someone as a servant... ]

[decrypter]

...That is what I'd like to believe - that the freedoms of now would allow people to choose based on their heart, before anything else. And that is what I had been hoping to observe, in these festivities.

[just. not extending the same hopes to herself so far. it had been a surprise to adapt to the less serious nature of dating in the first place, but it had nurtured new thoughts, new ideas, and a wish to truly understand. and yet, these things take time...]

[shimashima]

Was it completely disappointing, in the end?

[ Or was it only that because it was cut short before Helena could experience much of said festivities? Let alone become better acquainted with anyone interested in taking advantage of the opportunity to pursue any budding feelings...

What did she observe? He'd thought that she had fun — then again, he couldn't keep track of absolutely every second of everything himself, least of all when Midori came to make his rounds. ]

...The substitute school nurse and I aren't really former lovers, for the record! Don't consider any of that an example of... insight!

[ Far from it... Very, very far. Alice grimaces at the memory, but he settles to study Helena for something to reveal her opinion of Midori. ]

[decrypter]

[and despite everything, despite the circumstances of this conversation, she can't help breaking into laughter. the exact kind she had stifled in her observation, but had felt, and now dragged up to the surface - it is a welcome relief to laugh instead of wander about lost in her feelings.]

I didn't really think so - you and Dr. Sunny were, what is that word...roleplaying, isn't that right?

[and a very indepth one it was.]

[shimashima]

[ In turn, Helena's laughter is a welcome sound — hearing it now feels like an accomplishment. The bruises and splinters are suddenly worth it! ]

Indeed... I couldn't refuse Dr. Sunny's challenge. He doubted my imagination and creativity, you see, so I had no choice but to prove him wrong. Of course, none of the things he said about me were true... That was only the character that I was playing.

[ He would never cry and beg someone to buy him gifts, or help himself to their food, or bite them! Nor does he have mood swings or a drug problem... He doesn't need to go on a diet, either!

The broken table is harder to explain. Did Midori prepare that in advance, like a trap set up to collapse? ]

But if you found our performance entertaining, I shall declare it a success!

[ And yet, Helena was so quick to comment on that, the rest set aside. Is it too upsetting, then, and she'd rather move on from all of that? ]

In any case, perhaps other people have been inspired by the event...

[decrypter]

...I hope so. Even if my own experience was not what I hoped it would be, if others can take joy from it, then...it was all worth it. If they can be inspired to pursue what's in their heart...

[then even what happened, it's all worth the effort gone to. that's the sentiment she's conveying.]

[shimashima]

[ It's kind of Helena to say that, wishing others well, despite her disappointment, but leaving it there... No, it's unacceptable. She's admitted that she was hoping for something different, and her reservations shouldn't hold her back here. ]

...I truly meant what I said, Helena. If you're encouraging others to follow their hearts, then you should do the same.

[decrypter]

...

[her smile changes, grows a little more contemplative. if she was to really follow her heart, what then? where would it lead her? down a road she's unsure of, where she can't predict the course. here...]

...who knows? Maybe there is someone for me, who thinks in ways I haven't yet comprehended.

[shimashima]

[ The fact that Helena appears to be taking his words on board counts as a victory! There's a smile in the sound of approval that Alice hums then. ]

Precisely! You're a good person... Why shouldn't you meet other good people?

[ That's not quite what Helena means — he realizes that. To tell the truth, he doesn't have extensive personal knowledge of such matters himself. ]

That is... Mutual feelings could develop naturally as you bond with someone over time, and after that, the two of you would discuss what to do about them.