aboxfullofstars | 21 [Open Post] Valentine's Day, Spring Flowers, and also Office Shenanigans!

21 [Open Post] Valentine's Day, Spring Flowers, and also Office Shenanigans!

Valentine's Day is coming, and so are Heart's and Hooves Day and other holidays that are similar to Valentine's Day!

City *****'s World Tree Mart and Market Square are both having their Annual Valentine's Sale, and the scent of chocolate and fine wines are drifting through the air.

And it's also the season for plum blossums and other spring flowers, so many Shrines, Temples and Gardens are having Plum Flower Festivals!

But wait...Something else seems to be happening too, as it so often happens in City *****...

Some people are being turned into Office AU Versions of themselves, and find themselves working at a Office, with all the Office Shenanigans that implies...

And some people are also getting a strong urge to give Valentine Chocolates and other Valentine Gifts to almost everyone they know!

[The Valentine Gift-Giving Event seem to be inspired by Japanese Valentine customs up to a point, but instead of the woman giving chocolates to men and the men giving the woman cookies back on White Day in March, for this Event, people of all genders are giving each other Valentine Gifts regardless of gender, and the Valentine Gifts do not have to be chocolates or cookies.]

[Japanese Valentine Customs

Giri-Choco : "Obligation chocolates". Small inexpensive chocolates that are given to classmates and workmates.

Tomo-Choco : "Friend chocolates". Somewhat nicer chocolates to give to friends and family members.

Honmei-Choco : Elaborate chocolates to give to their Special Person (or Special People).

Jibun-Choco : A special chocolate treat just for themselves.]

[The characters can come under the effect of multiple Reality Events at the same time, so they can also have the urge to hand out chocolates while they're being Office AU'd, for example.]

[Whether the characters are affected or not by the Reality Waves and Reality Events are all up to their Muns. All the Reality Wave's and Reality Event's effects will end in 3 days, or whenever the Muns want them to end.]

[This is an open post, and the Muns can make up events and thread with each other as long as it fits the themes.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Tachibana rubbed his hands as he saw the rest of the crew put all the Valentine Goods on the Table outside the Bakery proper.]

[Everything looked wonderful, even the tiny little chocolate cakes Ono had made for people who wanted Giri-Choco.]

[Retsuko and John's Combo Office AU and Valentine Event Thread starts here!]

Edited 2019-02-02 04:37 (UTC)

[The Bakery]

[Retsuko grinned as she arrived at the Antique Bakery. She loved shopping for Valentine's Day, she really did.]

[And this time, shopping for Valentine's Day was even more fun then usual, since - since...]

[Retsuko somehow managed to visibly blush, then, despite being a Red Panda Person.]

[But then, she took a deep breath.]

[Calm down, Retsuko, you're a grown woman now, and you can surely go something simple, like buy a nice Valentine's Day present for John-san...]

[And then, small red hearts actually fluttered over her head as she remembered John-san. He was soo big and handsome as a Wolf Person! Oh, she knew that he really was a Human Person, and he was pretty darn handsome as a Human too, but still.]

[Aand that was when Chikage laughed, and turned toward her.]

...Hi, Miss! Did you know you have red heart marks flying over your head now?

[Retsuko blinked, and blinked again, looking up at the rather tall Human waiter. Well, she thought that was a waiter's uniform, anyway. And he wasn't anywhere near as tall as John-san in either of his forms, but...]

- Ahhh, really? Sorry if they got in the way...

[Well, she did come from a world where that kind of thing happened semi-regularly, after all.]

...Oh, no, that's fine, Miss!

[Chikage grinned.]

- Have you come to see our Valentine wares? We have all kinds of things, not just chocolates, but our chocolates are pretty darn good, if I say so myself!

[Retsuko nodded at that, and looked at the tables and shelves which seemed to be filled to the brim with Valentine related things. She then tilted her head.]

[Ahh, yes, those "giri-choco" bags did look rather nice.]

[...Director Ton liked to pretend he didn't care a fig about "all that Valentine Day's nonsense", but he'd probably sulk all week if he didn't get enough Valentine's stuff, even if it was just "giri-choco".]

[......But on the other hand, he wasn't really all that fond of sweet things in the first place. Neither was Haida or...her ex, Resesuke, now that she thought about it.]

[Hmmm...]

...Hey, Waiter-san - Does this place have things that can be used in place of "giri-choco" that isn't sweet? Maybe something with meat or cheese?

[Chikage thought about this for about 30 seconds, and then he grinned.]

- What about those mini-salamis with cheese and pepper? They're each wrapped separately, too, so they're easy to just leave on people's desks and stuff.

[Retsuko looked at the mini salamis in the bag Chikage had handed to her, and smiled. Yes, this was perfect!]

...Thanks, Waiter-san! I'll take one big bag of the mini-salamis, and also one big bag of those "giri-choco" over on the table there -

[And then, she blushed again.]

- And then, I'm, um, also looking for some special Valentine Gifts, too, if you get what I mean...

[Aand that was when a Reality Wave rushed through the Bakery, and swirled right around Retsuko!]

[The Combo Office AU and Valentine Event Starts Here]

[Chikage blinked again, as he could see the magical energies a bit, even if he couldn't figure out what they were doing.]

...Hey! Are you OK, Miss?

[Retsuko slowly blinked, then.]

[Was she OK? She thought she was, but...]

- Um, I think so?

[What was she doing in a Bakery, anyway?]

[And then, she smiled hugely as she remembered what she had came here for. First, she really did have to get some "giri-choco" kind of stuff for her workmates, she thought, but she'd found some nice mini salamis and chocolates already, thanks to the nice Human Waiter person.]

[And so now...]

[It was time to find something really nice to give to John-san, the really awesome Security Guy who'd started to work at her company a couple of months ago.]

[John-san was a Wolf Person, and really tall and handsome. Retsuko had been crushing on him for months, ever since he'd saved her from being almost drowned when she'd been singing to herself at the beach.]

[And in the meanwhile...]

[James was staring at Retsuko and Chikage though the Bakery's big windows.]

[So what had just happened, again?]

Edited 2019-02-02 05:24 (UTC)

Working as a foreigner meant John had to give no less than everything every single day. He was an athletic-shaped lupine person, snout carefully turned out front, straight and disciplined for the job in front of him.

And for something that was supposed to be his duty, no matter how still could he remain as a statue for hours, and even weeks, he realized he could amuse himself much in the way british honor guards did in their duty: Watching the life around the street and every passing person moving in, seeing every weirdness and every story passing by.

And... sometimes thinking about Retsuko.

He had saved her from that incident because it was his duty. He had to keep his workmates safe, obey his superiors, and throw out threats. Each of those under the full extent of the law and civilian good. But... he sometimes pondered about her, whenever if she wanted to be a close friend, or... or something more.

John only slightly rose his snout, focusing out front, nodding to employees as they came into the building.

[Retsuko, in the meanwhile, had eventually decided to buy two "Valentine Lunchboxes" for her special Valentine's Day gift, and was now quickly walking toward the company she worked at, her ears perked and her tail waving.]

[She also was carrying a extra rucksack with the "giri-choco" bag and the "giri-mini-salami" bag inside it on her back, while the two of the rather big "Valentine Lunchboxes" had been placed inside a paper bag, one on top of the other, and were now being carried around in her arms.]

[Retsuko could barely see in front of her, with the "Valentine Lunchboxes" and all, but she'd climbed those stairs every day, right? How hard could it be?]

[She slowly started to climb the stairs, one step at a time...]

[Left, right, left, right - Yes, she could do this!]

[Aand then, she happened to look to the left - And caught sight of John's handsome snout...]

...Kyaaaaa!?!?

[John the Wolf Person now has a small Red Panda Person tripping and falling right in his direction, ho ho ho - And she's all redfaced (despite being a Red Panda Person) and trailing lots of red heartmarks, too!]

[And James, who had been following Retsuko at a distance, was now looking at what was happening, his mouth dropping open.]

[What. In. The. Multiverse?]

Edited 2019-02-09 04:36 (UTC)

He had moved within a blink.

Right before Retsuko even lost control of all of the boxes she carried, the wolf-man had appeared in front of her to hold everything in place. One arm wrapped behind Retsuko and another rose to contain the tower.

In a moment, John stood still, holding both Retsuko and her tower of treats. Somehow, he felt Retsuko's beating heart from her tine body.

He lifted her up easily, and set her over the platform he had been standing in, ensuring first to slowly leave the boxes down to settle them straighter to carry them later.

After settling them down, it became impossible to miss Retsuko's hearts on her eyes and popping up over every place she steps around.

"Are you alright?"

... He didn't use the 'Miss'.

For a moment, he believes he recognizes somebody behind her... before swiftly holding Retsuko's shoulder, trying to keep her head beneath the clouds.

[Retsuko, in the meanwhile, was looking up at John, starry-eyed. Her ears were perked up, and so many red hearts were floating around her now that some of other people around them were starting to try to bat them away with their hands.]

- Th - Thank you, John-san!

[She waited until John put her back on the ground, packages and all, and then, she took a deep breath.]

...Um, John-san...Would you, uh, eat lunch with me today? I...I bought two lunchboxes, and, um, it's nice and sunny today, so I thought we could maybe go to the new park they made on top of the building...

[The new park was a prototype of something the company was trying to develop, from what she heard, but it was very pretty. It also was much bigger on the inside then the outside, so it should be easy to find someplace to eat and...]

[She visibly blushed, the blush floating above her fur.]

[And in the meanwhile...James was crouching behind a big statue with a hand over his mouth.]

[No, no, laughing out loud now was not a good idea, he was pretty sure, buuuut.]

One of John's wolf ears perked up. His snout turn for a moment when he believed hearing sniggering... Which was muffled by the hearts popping above Retsuko's head.

He hefted her gifts back up, listening as she offered a meeting... and for a moment, wondered what to do with a sweatdrop over his head.

Work was quiet. It was a contest of patience in which he had to stay still for hours at a time to simply pass the time, unmoving, waiting... practically doing nothing with the months of training he took in the Self-Defense forces until he was relieved by the next security guard.

While he appreciated the time to be alone, it turned out he had a lot of time to be alone out here.

John turned his snout to her, and nodded. He handed her her box back.

[Retsuko, in the meanwhile, was quite literally almost jumping up and down in joy!]

...You - You mean it, John-san!?

[Aand then, she whipped out her Phone, and quickly started looking at her schedule.]

- Is 13:15 OK?

[Several minutes later, Retsuko wandered into the office she worked in in a daze.]

[It was Valentine's Day, and she was going to eat lunch with John-san! And she even had special Valentine's Day Lunchboxes!]

[She quickly went to her desk, and put all the Valentine's Day stuff on it, grinning all the while.]

[Oh, hey, those left over catalogues looked pretty good. Time for some origami, right?]

[And about five minutes after that...]

[Director Ton was blinking slowly at a origami boat on his desk.]

Happy Valentine's Day, Director Ton! Do you want a giri-choco or a giri-salami?

[Ton stared at Retsuko, who was holding out a tiny chocolate and a tiny salami. And...]

[...Yup, actual red hearts were floating on top of her ears.]

...Giri-salami? For Valentine's Day? I never heard of such a thing, but why not. A salami it is.

- Yessir!

[Retsuko said with a grin, and put a mini-salami inside the origami boat.]

[And then, she went skipping around the office, giving everybody there giri-chocos or giri-salamis, or leaving one or the other on their desk if they weren't present.]

[And then, she turned around, and looked at Resasuke's desk. She blinked a bit, feeling somewhat relieved that he wasn't there.]

...Um...Haida-kun?

[Retsuko mumbled, and then, she put both a giri-choco and a giri-salami on his desk.]

...I'll give you an extra one, so...Please put this salami on Resasuke-san's desk for me?

Edited 2019-02-23 05:13 (UTC)

John's snout followed her rapid movements, the way she typed on her phone almost too eagerly. He was relieved at these hours by another security guard, so it was a good moment to spend his time with something. With someone.

At her bequest, he nods. Then, as Retsuko trails off, skipping and leaving hearts floating everywhere in her wake, John... made a mental note for the date. He was going to remember it, as his memory was solid, but being at the cellphone would also be wasted work hours, which... would be doing nothing in here, but waiting.

In spite of it all, he remembered.

He turned his snout up when he overheard a few conversations within the office itself, ears perking up with the noises and yelps she heard. Hoping that Retsuko would at least have an easy time in this time of the year. At the very least, she seemed happy.

He knew of Aida, and... honestly, a pang of guilt ran over him, as he knew of the glares he sometimes gave him after realizing he was the product of Retsuko's affection. He wondered how to help the two of them, while at the same time not harming either of them...

In any case, he hoped Fenneko knew nothing of any of this. But given the obsessive detective nature that bloody Fennex Fox had, it would be only a matter of time before she knew far too much about him.

The clock marked 1:00 pm. John turned his snout up, around, then at the lion guard coming in. He nodded to him, then walked into the office. In there, he shifted away from his uniform for the moment, letting himself dress with a shirt and a jacket, instead, then waited for Retsuko.

Haida's entire fur shifted upwards like a rock string being played. He turned around with a big smile to Retsuko! At last! She paid attention to him! Even something as simple as a gift would be enough to make him happy that she paid attention to him! He greeted her!

... And, sure enough, he was given an extra one, but... also had to place one on Resasuke's desk. Right. Right!

"Ahahahahaha! Yes! Yes, it won't be a problem!" Haida scratched the back of his head as his tail rose and a blush ran over his face! He would help Retsuko! She gave one extra to him! He walked her walk away, seeing as how her break began, and...

... and... he... did place the salami on Resasuke's desk. The guy kept looking like an absolute mooncase as he seemed to have messed up yet another piece of paperwork.

After it, still holding his own gifts, he turned to Retsuko, who happily thought of John.

... It was enough, Haida wanted to think. The fact she saw him as a good friend should have been enough, as Retsuko decided who she wanted to know the most, and who to love. He wanted that to comfort him, somehow, and yet he was still afraid.

[Retsuko twitched a bit, then, her tail waving uncertainly.]

[...Maybe...This had not been a good idea...]

...Haida-kun, never mind, I'll put it there myself -

[She said, turning - But by that time, Haida had already put the little piece of Valentine Giri-Salami on Resasuke's desk.]

...Um. Sorry, Haida-kun, I mean, I should have done that myself -

[She said, twitching. Haida looked at her, and tilted his head.]

...Naaah. Never mind, Retsuko - You're doing fine, OK?

[Retsuko smiled, then. Haida-kun was such a nice person! A lot of other people in the company probably would have made fun of the fact that even looking at at Resasuke's desk still made her sad sometimes, never mind Resasuke himself - but Haida-kun wasn't like that at all.]

......Thanks, Haida-kun!

[And then, she went off to her desk, whistling cheerfully. And now, all she had to do was work hard until her lunch break, and be careful so nobody could dump a load of work on her at the last moment.]

[Aand then - ]

[She was going to eat lunch! With John-san!]

[And it wasn't any old lunch, it was a special Valentine Lunchbox, ho ho ho -]

...John-san, John-san, here I come -

[Retsuko sang softly, not realizing that she was actually saying the words aloud.]

[Haida groaned at the red hearts that were starting to pop over Retsuko's head, and then sighed.]

[...Well, he'd known already that Retsuko was head over heels for John-san, to be honest, but...]

[Retsuko grinned as the clock hands moved about. Just one minute more...]

...I'm going on my lunch break, sir!

[She called out, and then, she grabbed both of the Special Valentine Lunchboxes, and started to run toward the elevator.]

[The elevator was almost empty when she got to it, which made her happy, as her lunchboxes were less likely to be crushed that way.]

[Up, up, up - And then, she was at the rooftop gardens, which were even nicer then she'd remembered from when she came here before.]

[And now - She had to find John-san! She put the lunchboxes down first, and then craned her neck, looking around the place.]

Edited 2019-03-02 06:37 (UTC)

The Antique Bakery's Valentine Sale

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