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[idolpro]

Who: Idols and idol accessories
Where: Tokyo-F
When: Day 437

[ Idols will start their day today to find red envelopes, each with their idol names, presented to them on a table at their dorm's landing. Each envelope is supernaturally sealed, incapable of being opened except by their designated recipient. Inside each envelope is a gold zan-style hairpin with stripes of silver carved into its stem, and the tip is heavy with a weighty decoration—be it a dragon, phoenix, tiger, butterfly, flower(s), or anything else, they are all inlaid with bright, glowing tiger's eye gemstones.

As ornate as they look, these hairpins aren't just for decoration: upon the recipient touching the accessory, they'll find their clothes magically changing into fanciful Chinese or fantasy Chinese clothing—perhaps vibrant red, regardless of unit, or woven patterns and colors that reflect the idol's position. At the same time, the hairpin knits itself into the idol's hair (if capable, else it pins itself as a brooch) which has also magically been done up fancifully.

Down at the lobby there are more hints toward the holiday, if the red envelope didn't already make it obvious: red streamers and paper lanterns decorate the hotel, along with tiger decorations which vary from elegant wall scrolls to cute tiger plush pillows on the lobby seats. And, if it still isn't clear enough—perchance for those who aren't familiar with the culture at all—a red and gold banners hang from the wall, reading "HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY" and "LUNAR NEW YEAR" and "YEAR OF THE TIGER".

Near the kitchen, there are tables with spreads of Chinese foods from various regions, all available in an all-you-can-eat styled buffet. And, what's more—the food seems to be completely safe! They don't contain even a little bit of status effects. For once, here's a party with safe food.

There are additionally tables with gift bags, once again labeled with each idol's name. These are not supernaturally sealed, and in each bag are . . . well. . . tiger things, along with a note that reads,

300 points per item worn for the day! Max 1,200 points (head/hands/tail/feet

Oh, right, this is an idol show. And oh, surprise, the tiger appendages (optionally) have some sort of status effect thing going on:

• Feel more cuddly/desire cuddles
  
• Feel more mercurial/contrarian
  
• Feel more possessive/territorial
  
• Feel more hungry, both for food and for immaterial things (especially attention)
  
• Feel more brave
  
• Feel more light-hearted/more easily amused

At least they're all fairly mild in effect.

Last but not least, decoration wise, there's also an ominous poster near the elevators. . . Well, who's afraid of a sign, right? . . . Nevermind that if someone were to break a taboo, they'll find themself just slightly unluckier today, on the level of breaking their shoe/sandal laces and receiving the wrong order at the café.

Outside, though the weather is cold, the sun is auspiciously bright today, warmth radiating out the city to soften the chill. Moreover, there's an infectious energy on the streets, one that would surely make a person forget the temperature—long paper puppets, taking the form of dragons and lions and tigers, parade down the street, powered by ghostly dancers and backed up by the orchestra of a marching band and fan dancers. Floating lanterns guide them throughout the city, where they'll circle around the streets ceaselessly until evening.

At the stroke of midnight, idols will find their old clothes back in their closet and their hairpins no longer glowing, but they'll also find they're able to keep the clothing they received from the hairpins. They can also keep the tiger paraphernalia, which have lost their effects. ]

Comments

[wayofthehousekeeper]

[ Chuckles. ]

I wouldn't want that. Rather, I was going to ask if you'd like to walk the festival with me for a bit.

[sangreine]

Confounding my expectations, hm? I like it.

Where were you headed?

[wayofthehousekeeper]

I was planning to take a look around and see if I could find some hot pot to eat. Something about this puts me in the mood for a good hot pot.

[sangreine]

I'll never say no to food!

[ She's going to grab his arm again, maybe now that he's not so hung over it won't be so off putting. If it is, she's easily shrugged off, just -- tiger accessory things. ]

[wayofthehousekeeper]

[ Aster seems perfectly fine with it, leading the way in fact with her arm secured with his. ]

How're you with spicy then?

[sangreine]

Haven't met a food I didn't love. Spice is fine.

[wayofthehousekeeper]

Then let's get one with a good kick to warm things up.

[sangreine]

Warm things up -- are you cold? I didn't even think of that. Temperature doesn't affect me very much.

[ Rubbing his arm a little ] Spice warms humans up, huh? I should remember that in case I ever find someone in need of warming.

[wayofthehousekeeper]

Just a little, but the warmth that comes from something with a good spice to it is appreciated any time.

Careful though, some people can't handle some spices.

[sangreine]

Really? Huh. [ Human taste buds, wtf? ] How much can you handle? On a scale of utterly bland to volcanic eruption.

[wayofthehousekeeper]

I'm not entirely sure yet, but I wouldn't mind finding out.

[sangreine]

I don't know how much I can handle either.

Care to make it interesting? [ Competitive about everything, she is. ]

[wayofthehousekeeper]

[ He's also dumbly competitive so. ]

Of course.

[sangreine]

Wonderful. If I lose I'll buy you one thing you want, since you might not have that many points yet. If you lose, you bake me something sweet. How's that for stakes?

[ Yeah she doesn't lose at anything, especially not without making it painful, good luck with that fire mouth bud. ]

[wayofthehousekeeper]

Are you sure about that? I don't know what my baking skills are like yet.

[sangreine]

I suppose that's a risk I'll have to take. [ You'd have to be worse in the kitchen than she is to make something she won't eat, and that is a low, low bar even for people living in hell already. ]

I'll let you set the amount of heat to start with. [ You're so so so doomed Aster ]

[wayofthehousekeeper]

[ He'll put up a good fight at least!! ]

Let's start with a mild so the heat can grow.

[sangreine]

Pick your hot pot, then. I'll follow your lead. [ And then surpass it and destroy it with her iron taste buds. ]

[wayofthehousekeeper]

[ TIME FOR A HOT POT SEARCH and once they find a table of them, he's going to look carefully between the varying shades of red. ]

I think... this one should be a good starter.

[sangreine]

[ She lights up absurdly at all the lined up foodstuffs! (Not as much as if they were cakes, but it's still pretty adorable.) ]

Looks good! [ Picking up chopsticks and poking around the one he chose until she finds one of the peppers, which she proceeds to eat whole. ] Mm, this is great! [ Now proceeding to pick out some of the other ingredients and put them away; she doesn't get full so can, and will, eat as much of each of these as possible (making sure she doesn't eat all the best parts though, she leaves those for Aster). ]

[wayofthehousekeeper]

[ Seeing someone excited for food brightens his own face up and automatically takes up the role of host between them, taking charge of loading ingredients into the hot pot and making sure she gets plenty to eat while taking some for himself as well. ]

Fuwaaaa, that's nice and warm.

[sangreine]

You're supposed to be challenging me, not serving me. [ Note, however, that she's not going to stop him. ]

Are we adding spice to this or getting another? [ She will literally eat everything available if it becomes an option, her metabolism is unstoppable. ]

[wayofthehousekeeper]

Hey, I can do both, I'm eating it too.

We can move onto the next one after we finish this round of meat.

[ They can't just abandon the meat they've put in. ]

[sangreine]

[ Of course they can't! T'would be sacrilege! Also lol the idea of her leaving food on a plate. ]

Sounds perfect. [ She makes sure to take the smaller pieces, trying to be minimally polite at least. ]

[wayofthehousekeeper]

Hey, don't worry about limiting yourself, since I'm serving I'll make sure to give myself as much as I know I can manage. What I don't know is how much you can manage.