[open] party rap rap rap

[roppou]

🧙 WHO: Mingle with some hypmics and OTAnyone who wants to crash a party
⚔️️ WHAT: Birthday party for plenilunium who just arrived like yesterday
🕒 WHEN: April 14
🗺️ WHERE: Phoenix Roost
⚠️ WARNINGS: None

the network post

As a resident of Avalon, you are cordially invited to the birthday celebration for Aimono Jyushi. The party is a surprise which will take place at the Phoenix Roost on April 14 at 8:30 PM. There is no need for gifts or payment. Our guest of honor is new to the city and the intention is simply to host a fun event to meet new people.

Please direct any and all questions to Amaguni Hitoya, organizer of the event.

preparazione

A party of any sizable reputation takes a considerable amount of work to put together. Even more so on such short notice. There's decorations to hang. Food to prepare. A cake to bake. Sound systems and lighting to check. Balloon animals to balloon. In the hours between closing for the public and the start of their surprise party, the phoenix roost is a buzz of activity to transform it into something to properly welcome and celebrate the life of Avalon's newest MC.

banchetto

Guest will find plenty of sustenance to sustain them through the night. The party menu leans heavy towards the Italian influences with bright red Napolitan pasta, and squid ink pescatore, aracini and caprese crowding the table. Much of the food has been seasoned with a touch of the macabre like the candy apples that appear to be dripping blood. Beverages for evening range from sweet cream sodas to mature wines and liquor to appease a diverse crowd, with all the usual enchantments necessary for such drinks. And of course sitting at the center of it all is the eponymous cake.

musica

Jyushi is a musician so it's only right that they pay homage to that calling on his birthday. The stage is set for karaoke where you'll have your choice of music and lighting to accompany your performance. Need an instrument? There's even a few of those on loan too. Out of respect for the venue and all attendees, please just stick to the provided microphone instead of any you may be carrying with you. We'd rather not check them at the door.

giochi

Party planners were really feeling enthusiastic so attendees will find a few social activities set up around the hall. If the conversation is growing stale, try grabbing one of the equally stale fortune cookies lying around. They won't promise you riches or future love in your life they will prompt you with a random ice breaker idea.

There's an adaptation of Fukuwarai set up against one wall except the usual face has been replaced with the image of a cartoonish pig. Grab a partner, don the blindfold and have fun trying to attach her button eyes, floppy ears, and little jester cap.

Finally about halfway through the night, someone who has probably dipped a little too deep into the boozy drinks drags a bunch of chairs out from the table and arranges them in a circle. It's time for CRB (that's Chair Rap Battle for the uninitiated or if you come from a normal world--Musical Chairs). Everyone who's playing should pick a chair. Everyone who's not? Congrats one of you has been chosen at random to start the rap roundabout. Luckily there's no time limit on how long to go. Once stopped, with everyone in a seat, the odd man out is responsible for leading the next round with their sick freestyling.

concerto

Jyushi had been surprised when he realized his birthday was coming so close after coming to a fantasy land that you thought only happened in mangas and stuff. But here he was, in Avalon and apparently a year older. It kind of felt like cheating but technically he was 19 now.

And when he walks in to see the party, to see how all of this has come together simply for his birthday, it doesn’t feel important at all whether he cheated the system to age another year. Not when he’s faced with the biggest party he’s ever had thrown for him. And with a bunch of people he doesn’t know? And are technically enemies but not only is Avalon new to him but so is the whole division battle thing too. But right now, that seems so far away. It’s overwhelming. In all the best and worst ways but he thinks the good is outweighing the bad.

Hitoya had told him to perform and Jyushi always feels nervous about it every time even if he’s definitely performed more than enough. But usually he has more time to prep and he has his band to back him up. But right now, all he has is a karaoke track, his guitar, and his own talent. With a deep breath, he goes up to perform with all his usual visual kei flair.

"Hello, esteemed guests! Thank you all for coming to this bon anniversaire! Allow me to perform for this auspicious day. A song that is all about sharing joys…!"

When the song begins, it shows off Jyushi’s normal voice in an uplifting ballad before it turns into something much more metal. Throughout it, it changes gears. Sometimes light and happy but then back to hard and loud. It’s jarring but it’s jarring in the same ways that Jyushi is going between his two personalities. It’s a fitting song for him to be singing as an introduction of sorts.

Once he finishes, with one more dramatic thanks for listening, he’s coming off the stage, heart pumping because he did it! He sang in front of all these people and in this new world…! He’s really happy!

Comments

[glossophobia]

[ this sesame street count ass motherfucker ]

[ What is the point of telling him that first part? Rosho drinks cheap beer for a living IS HE TESTING HIM ]

Uh. [ He blinks, opens his mouth, but then decides he doesn't have a right to say anything in retort. Thinks back on his punk days.................. Rosho takes a moment then has a deep breath, offering Hitoya a bow of apology. ]

I'm sorry. I've learned my lesson.

af;ksdjfs;d sure did lose track of this among the hundreds of other notifs for this log orz

[roppou]

[Shockingly Rosho, it wasn't all about you?

Now Hitoya is full prepared for the teacher to continue making an ass of himself so it actually catches him off guard to see that change of heart with him backing down.

Well he'd be a hypocrite not to accept it.]

Don't worry about it. Out of respect for our guest of honor I'll let it slide.

[Seriously, if they cause a scene Jyushi will just end up crying. Again.]

hitoya just ollies out of the birthday... how ic

[glossophobia]

[ For a teacher, he's a big idiot sometimes. ]

About him... I mean, it's obvious you know we spoke, but... is he always like that? Ya know... all, chuuni and such.

[ Please teach him how you deal with it Hitoya. ]

if there's ONE birthday he wouldn't do that to though....

[roppou]

Huh?

[It's not like he needs to ask what Rosho is talking about. It's what people are always talking about when Jyushi is the subject of inquiry. It's only that he never really thought about it in those terms before.]

No. He's always like this around new people but. Just give him time to warm up to you and you'll see the other side of him. [Not his true self because that would be dismissing how important both the faces he wears are to his composite whole. What he gets out of them and what it means to him.]

And if it ever gets to be a bother just tell him to knock it off. A good whack usually does the trick. [Rosho's a teacher... he gets it, right???]

what a good dad (to jyushi. sometimes.) 🥺

[glossophobia]

[ Hitoya your old man is showing. Teachers aren't like that anymore!! ]

I'm not going to go and hit someone when I've just met them! [ Only if they're adults and they deserve it. ]

He's just a kid. When you put it like that, it sounds like he does it so it's easier to talk to people.

[ And Rosho can associate with that feeling pretty well. ]

It's odd, but it's not going to do any harm in the long run.

when he isn't hitting him

[roppou]

[He shrugs it off like maybe he was joking all along. Which he wasn't but suit yourself. Hitoya's not the one calling it weird for once.]

You're right. He has his reasons but it's not my place to share them. [Gotta level up your friendship to unlock the tragic backstory, Rosho. But just in case he needs the hint...]

We met by chance about five years back and I ended up representing him in a case. [No one asked but it's one of those questions that's always there, simmering beneath the surface.]

[glossophobia]

[ Rosho falls silent for a moment. He has to take about a second to process this information, and he has the fleeting thought of oh okay this man is a lawyer. But that's not the most important part. ]

He wasn't hurt in any way, was he? [ He can't help it, being who he is, that's the first thing that comes to mind and what he's most worried about. ]

[roppou]

[Hitoya doesn't exactly wear his heart on his sleeve, but he doesn't really make an attempt to mask his reaction to that question either. The answer should be obvious.]

If we weren't here you could probably look up the case yourself. [It didn't quite go national but it still made quite a stir in the city proper. All the sorts of things you could expect from a lawsuit of any repute involving teenagers.]

The important thing is no one else was getting hurt once it was over.

[glossophobia]

[ Not a particularly comforting response. That means it was a major case. Those sorts of things happen only in very, very bad situations, and from the sound of how things ended... yeah, it's important that nothing further could ever happen to anyone, but it shouldn't have been at someone else's expense. Not someone as young as Jyushi was at that time. ]

Optimistic of you.

[ Five years ago, and Jyushi says he's eighteen now... ]

Not even the age of my students. To be that young and have to go through something so difficult... it's terribly unfair, and yet its way too common nowadays.

[roppou]

You're goddamn right about that.

[That hits close to the heart of the problem. The pesky little detail that prevent him from helping anyone until the worst has already happened. There was a time he thought he might be able to change that, find a different way but, well... then he grew up.

Anyway this is a party and not place to wallow in all the injustices in the world.]

So, you really are a teacher? That explains how you were able to handle him so easily. You must have some stories of students of your own? [Hopefully he doesn't have to add that this is a segue out of the unpleasantries.]

[glossophobia]

I've been teaching for about three years now, so I do have quite a few by now. They're not very exciting details though. Kids have the sort of problems adults tend to just brush off.

[ A lot of it tends to be keeping secrets, not disclosing little insecurities or fears, not letting other faculty know about part-time jobs. He feels a bit guilty when it comes to any of that, but Rosho is always willing to be there for his students for anything. He... hasn't done anything like that in a while though. ]

They say when you're in situations like these, time doesn't pass by back home, but I still feel as if I'm missing out on a lot. I had 3rd years ready for graduation and everything.

[ Then again, maybe it's good to have that delayed. Rosho's pretty sensitive when it comes to his students. The moment the ceremony happens he knows for sure he's going to get very emotional. ]

I get to teach here too, so I can't say I'm unhappy, but... I'm attached, you could say. They trust me enough to come to me about their problems and it's hard not to listen. I feel a little bit like a parent sometimes.

[roppou]

[Third years huh? He can appreciate how that's a long time to spend with anyone, let along a group of almost 40 kids. He's had a few cases drag on that long but they weren't the sort where you entertain the person everyday.]

Well you know what they say. It takes a village to raise a child so that's only natural, isn't it?

[It's got him thinking back to his own time in school. All the little gestures his teachers made for their student. One particular incident when he'd suffered an injury playing soccer and stayed home bedridden for a week. Their homeroom teacher had dropped by every day to deliver his work and he hadn't once thought anything of it. Like that wasn't exactly what they were supposed to do?

His gaze wanders briefly to Jyushi across the room, chatting up Doppo and trying not to shrink away from his familiar. It's kind of like that huh?]

It takes time to build those relationship so you want to see it through to the end. I'm not gonna pretend I know what it's like for a teacher but even in my line of work, relationships can form the foundations of your success.

[glossophobia]

[ Rosho can't help but laugh, because he understands the sentiment, while he's only been teaching for so long sometimes it takes quite a bit of effort for certain students to get them to the point where you'd want them to be. Everyone learns at a different pace, everyone is unique in their own way, but setbacks and obstacles are never meant to be considered stopping points.

He watches the way Hitoya's gaze wanders. Curiously, he follows the line of his sight, and as he listens to him and sees the way he looks upon Jyushi in that moment, he comes to learn that the two of them... they're not that different, are they?

Rosho, for a moment, wonders just what it was that made Hitoya the way he is, to think this way too. ]

It can be painful to go through difficult situations, especially if you're all on your own. When you feel like no one wants to support you, no one believes in you. Not just in teaching. It's like that for lots of things.

[ He thinks about that mother all the time, the mother of one of the members of a budding comedy duo, who couldn't believe in her son's dream. Who urged him to quit and just go back to school.

He thinks about his mother, and all the pressure she put upon him, all the expectations, and how much of a struggle it'd always been to get her approval. How many times did she ever say she was happy for him? How many times did she congratulate him for his hard work? How many times did she look at him and tell him she saw him and Sasara on television and was proud of him? Never. She never said any of those things. And it hurt.

That pit of despair that you fall into and can't get out of, and no one is there to give you a hand, to pull you up. ]

If there's anything I can do to alleviate those burdens, anything at all... I want to be able to do it. Whatever it takes, as long as it takes.

[roppou]

Sometimes it doesn't even take that much. Just knowing that someone understands, even when they're powerless to help, can still make all the difference. Knowing they won't give up on you either.

[Ah but that hits a little too close to home doesn't it? Too close to a time when the difficult situation Rosho speaks of was his own and it had felt like the only person in the world he could rely on was himself. Not that his parents hadn't been supportive but they were dealing with their own grief. Not that his friends left him wanting for condolences but they didn't understand.

It had worked out in the end, by his own hand. Sure, there were teachers and mentors and the networks he had built along the way to achieve all his ensuing success but there was a certain solitary effort to it all. He might have wish for a different sort of fallout if he ever stopped too long to process it.

The pause lingers just long enough not to be intrusive and it's easy enough to pass his words off as the kind of thing he does for others--others like Jyushi--rather than coming from a place of personal experience.

Rosho may have an abrasive edge to him but he doesn't regret talking to him now, to take in his true measure. Just the sort of person you would expect someone in his role to be but you hear far too often how that's not the case.]

I'm sure you're very popular with your students.