Can you feel the love tonight?

[highprofilerichkid]

Characters: EVERYBODY
Date: 14 February
Location: Anywhere
Situation: It's VALENTINE'S DAY! Flowers, candy, love notes, dancing, and dates... Maybe you don't have Valentine's Day on your world, but plenty of the foreigners do, and those who have found love on the turtle will be happy to tell you all about the holiday. Some of the more enthusiastic foreigners may even try to play matchmaker with their unattached fellows...
Warnings/Rating: Lovey-dovey nonsense, smooching, romance, and maybe people getting a little frisky. It is Valentine's Day, after all. Further warnings will be added if anything gets really steamy.



No plans for the big day? Feeling a little lost? Well, why don't you:

• Build a snowman together! Embrace your inner child.
• Give your lover a big box of... chocolate? Well, there's technically no chocolate in Keeliai, but maybe a kedan confectioner can whip you up something close enough. Or if you're feeling adventurous, you could go to a candy shop together and experiment with the local sweets.
• Go dancing and engage in some pan-galactic cultural exchange. Teach your partner one of the beloved dances of your home universe, like salsa, or the foxtrot, or the electric slide.
• Baby, it's cold outside. Maybe you should stay in for the day. Cook a meal together, light some candles, drink the most expensive alcohol you can afford, and take some time to appreciate each other's company. Nothing says "romance" more than fancy wine and a candlelit dinner for two.
• What better excuse to take a chance on romance? Ask out that person you've had your eye on.
• Set up your friend. You're satisfied with your relationship or lack thereof, but somebody you know is pining, so get out your bow and quiver and cupid wings and find them a potential sweetheart. What's the worst that can happen? Don't answer that.
• No date? Grab a friend and go out to a fancy dinner with each other to celebrate Singles Awareness Day. Platonic love is important too!

Comments

did someone order a pair of trash gay nerds to go

[wrathfulkhan]

Oh boy, Valentine's Day.

Gene's still not entirely sure what's going on, but he's doing his best to make this a good one for Tony. Especially given all of the recent, er, considerations. So he's stopped by a kedan florist and managed to wheedle out some nice-looking flowers without being taken for too much of a ride, and they're as fresh as they can be given the cold snap.

Tony's back in their shared room, and, feeling a weird sense of deja vu, he knocks.

yes. me. it was me. i did.

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony's been making his own preparations for the big day, and he's just finishing up when Gene knocks. He dashes to the door.

"Gene!" he says, with puppyish enthusiasm and a wide smile - as if it would be anybody else. His cheeks color when he sees what Gene's holding. "You got flowers again." He sounds pleased, and more than a little surprised. "Where'd you get them? I didn't know stuff could grow when it's this cold."

[wrathfulkhan]

"Some of the florist shops have greenhouses." And maybe he'd been feeding a little heat into some of them on his daily walks to make sure he'd have flowers for Valentine's Day. You're welcome for the economic boost and the relatively small dropoff in your stock, kedan florists.

"Happy, uh, Valentine's Day. Or whatever."

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony laughs, and blushes deeper. "Happy Valentine's Day." He takes the flowers and admires them for a few moments. Then he looks back up at Gene. "So are you, um, ready to go to dinner?"

Tony's obviously ready: he's dressed in his best pair of pants and a nice new red shirt (an actual button-up, not just a t-shirt - courtesy of Alayne), and his hair is actually brushed, for once.

Press U for Meddling Uncle.

[whitelotustile]

Iroh learned about this custom, and anything that involved making young couples feel more at home and happy was totally up his alley. So you might catch him refilling glasses and using some of his savings to pay for meals and other random acts of kindness. Or just urging you to go talk to that nice girl/guy.

Of course, if some nice person happened to look his way, he wasn't adverse to flirting up a storm, but most Foreigners were a bit young for him.

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

Sonja saw Iroh in the Midnight Hotel kitchen serving food and other people.

"Hi, I don't think we've met. I'm Sonja, do you work in the hotel?" She bowed during her introduction.

[whitelotustile]

"Ah, I'm Iroh," he bowed back. "And not officially. I just like spending time around here."

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Do you stay in the hotel too?"

Please wait while our operator connects you with a matchmaker.

[theideaguy]

Sokka had heard through the grapevine that Uncle Iroh was up to doing things in the Hotel from Zuko. All he had managed to get from Zuko was something about "Valentine's Day" and a lot of confused shrugs from his friend. But seeing as how Sokka knew nothing about this, it made sense to find out what sort of idea had gotten itself planted firmly in Iroh's ear.

"So... explain this tradition to me, start to back."

Re: Please wait while our operator connects you with a matchmaker.

[whitelotustile]

"Well, I only know a bit. Something about it being a festival for those in love," Iroh said. "What else is there to know?"

[theideaguy]

"But I'm already in love," Sokka explains rather matter-of-factly. "I'm in love with someone who's not on the shell, back in Avatar World. Her name's Suki. Kind of makes it rough to celebrate this festival thing."

[raavashing]

Wan was still not aware of the strange custom, but he had his own reasons for seeking out Iroh now that Tu Vishan had left the continent. It was something that he'd kept in the back of his mind for a few weeks and hadn't been ready to really think about or ask about until very recently.

"Iroh?" he spoke quietly as he approached, obviously nervous. "Could I talk to you about um... Fire Nation customs?"

[whitelotustile]

"Certainly!" Iroh said. "Which ones? 'Fire Nation customs' cover a lot of ground."

Given his nerves, Iroh suspected it was either 'nervous about boyfriend's family' or 'how to learn about the Fire Nations' terrible recent history without offending boyfriend's family'.

[raavashing]

"Well, uh..." start with something easy start with something easy start with something easy "...are there any customs related to... you know... courting... someone... of the royal family?"

There. Something simple. Something Wan was technically already doing. Ease into the topic.

[gathersnomoss]

Zelgadis has no idea what's going on. He's just going to try to go about his normal routine and wonder about how half the Foreigners are celebrating another holiday he's never heard of.

Arno Is Open For Business. And lonely.

[stubbornlittleshit]

Valentines Day, in and of itself, is nothing Arno is familiar with so far as customs go. He could tell you a bit about Saint Valentine but any of his observations about the saint would have very little to do with the way he's observing the celebrations among the foreigners themselves. This happens, when you come from a time and place when some holidays were not exactly celebrated yet during your lifetime. That said, among everything else, he's noticed it does seem to be a day for lovers, or at least for those you love.

THAT in particular, considering that his lover and best friend in the entire world are one and the same, has him a little mopey today, while he's paying such great interest to the festivities, perched, not on a rooftop for once, but on the back of an unhorsed wagon instead. And while he's always rooted firmly in the moment, there is a part of his mind that's still in Paris, still with Elise, and misses her so much. It's strange, considering how much of their adult lives, and the path to them were spent apart, but right now, what he wants is nothing more than one of her grins, or a barb tossed over her shoulder and...

Every red-haired person with long enough hair and the right frame gets a quick once over, even though he can't hear or see her, and the entire thing is all rather pathetic, actually. Could he use a friend? You BET he could!

Sokka LFG to raid Restaurant for epic Valentine's loot?

[theideaguy]

[OOC: Of course, the LFG here means "looking for girl," of course.]

Valentine's Day is not a day back in Avatar World. It's only something he heard about from one meddling uncle of a good friend that even suggested it to him in the first place. In any other circumstance, Sokka might have been super excited about the holiday. However, for what it's worth, he has a girlfriend off-turtle back in his world. And it's one he still cares for quite a bit despite having been here for five months. If it hadn't been for Iroh motivationally bending him ever so slightly, it would have been just that, but he was convinced that it doesn't have to be necessarily about finding a new love to replace Suki, just to find someone that was nice and perhaps getting to know her better.

And from that vantage point, he supposes that there wasn't anything necessarily wrong with that. There were still a lot of foreigners on the turtle that he didn't know, and a few of those still happened to be female. So maybe he could give it a shot. It wouldn't be a date; he'd already established that it wouldn't be anything similar to a date. That would disrespect his so-called "promise" to Suki. But he could still be nice to someone and get to know her.

And so he's in the lobby of the Midnight Hotel, looking out to see if there's someone that might strike his fancy, someone familiar yet unfamiliar. He's not certain who he's looking for, of course, but you never know.

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

Sonja comes down from her room and into the kitchen to get breakfast.

She passes the lobby without noticing Sokka, distracted by grumbling stomach. She grabs a couple pieces of fruit and a piece of pie and heads into the dining commons.

[theideaguy]

And as if karma hadn't done enough to torment Sokka both in the past and while here on Tu Vishnu, it decided to rear its ugly little head once more and send Sonja his way. Well technically Sonja wasn't heading his way but heading a rather different way, a way that included not saying hello to him. And for a moment, that was a relief because then he could choose to actually pass up the opportunity and look for someone else.

Except then the words of Iroh came streaming back to his head: "Then perhaps you should find someone to spend time with who is in a similar situation."

He didn't think Sonja, exactly, was in a similar situation as he was, though he couldn't know for sure. So far all they had managed to talk about was politics and the weird recording device she was using to watch his sister. But perhaps... he had felt a stab of guilt at the end of their conversation...

FINE. Conscious, he'll do it.

And so after a few moments pass he follows Sonja into the dining commons and heads over to her table. "Is this seat taken?" he asks, pointing to the one opposite her.

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Ah-" Sonja said, acknowledging Sokka. She did a quick tally of her exact tolerance for meeting people today. It was never very high, but it was early and she hadn't meaningfully interacted with anyone in awhile, so it was as high as it would ever likely be. "...no, it's not. By all means."

"Sokka, right?" She put on her best, most polite and welcoming demeanor.

Turtle Vets pretending they're not Turtle Vets for a day

[backwordscompatible]

The timing couldn't have been better.

They'd already mentioned the idea, agreed, and even had just enough spending money leftover to go through with it. It would be just like it had been before everything. Before things had started to go sour and Malicant moved in and the battle in the Dream Realm and the subsequent return and--

...well, basically, before.

Zatanna had never been one to look back, but there was a certain fondness in her eyes as she leaned against the handlebars, staring up at the blue skies with a smile as she waited for Jack to arrive. She'd sworn she would get that boy out of the Welcome Center, and it was Valentine's Day. The perfect excuse. To go along with the perfect weather, perfect plans, and absolute perfect machine rented from an increasingly friendly local shop.

Now all she needed was her perfect boyfriend.

Wasn't there supposed to be a double date thing happening?

[raavashing]

Wan had never really done a 'date'. Not in the proper sense of the word. He'd hung out with Zuko and spent time alone with him, but it had never been done with a sense of purpose or a planned activity and meal before. It had always been less formal. Less like it was a ritual of courtship. Calling it a 'date' made Wan feel like he needed to make sure he didn't screw anything up because then Zuko might decide he didn't want to keep Wan as his boyfriend. Which, of course, made no logical sense whatsoever, but Wan had grown up with dating as a formality tied to courtship in preparation for marriage. It was a pretty big deal. Almost like he was agreeing to really consider marriage to Zuko. Which... yeah, he'd asked to think about it, but thinking about it and actually taking steps toward it were two very different things.

So when Wan showed up at the small restaurant they'd agreed to meet at for this, he was Nervous (with capital 'N'). He was also dressed very differently than usual. His regular, threadbare and well-worn winter clothes had been replaced with something that, while not brand new, was clearly newer. The kedan's choice of dress was similar enough to What wan was familiar with that he'd managed to find something in the same simple style he preferred. But he still felt out of place in the clothes since he's bought them just so he has something a little nicer to wear for the date. They were also very Fire Nation in color. Mostly brown with some red and not-quite-gold yellow trim. The only thing that remained from his usual winter wear were the cloth wraps around his feet since he still didn't have shoes.

Wan entered the restaurant and quietly made his way through it, looking to see if anyone else was there yet.

[wrathfulkhan]

Gene had dressed nicely for this. Well, he usually dresses nicely, or as nicely as he can, but he'd stepped it up just a bit for this date. Black and gold, as was his usual custom, but a very nice tunic all the same.

Dates. Ugh. Ooh. The entire concept still gave him the willies. And this...double-date thing gave him the double-willies. No, more than that. Super-willies. Yes. No. This is stupid.

Gene took a deep breath and tried to force down the anxiety. He'd only been on a couple of Actual Dates with Tony and he still wasn't sure he liked the custom.

Ah, and there was Wan. He waved a little awkwardly as the other man approached. "Hey."

Nice. Nailed it.

[lordhotman]

Zuko showed up a couple minutes later, also wearing something out of the norm. Wearing his usual clothes just didn't seem right for a date. So when his Uncle had heard about the supposed double date, he had no lack of help, and went shopping. Thankfully, the Kedan seemed more willing to sell him things now.

When he walked in, he was wearing something similar to what he once wore in the Earth Kingdom. Not very elaborate, but nice. Though this time the color was mainly a deep dark red with gold trim in a style that was popular among the Kedan. His Uncle had also offered to do his hair, which Zuko quickly assured him he could do himself. It was pulled back into a simple top knot.

When he saw the other two, his gaze lingered on Wan for a few long moments, a smile on his lips. Yes, he noticed the change and he liked it.

"You look... nice."

Oh yeah. Gene is there too.

"Hey."

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony arrives soon after Zuko. He, too, is dressed sharply - even more so than he had been for his Valentine's Day date with Gene. He also looks a bit flushed, as if he'd had to rush to get here. He... may have panicked a little and spent longer than he'd intended picking out clothes. This double date thing is new territory for Tony, and he'd been uncertain about the etiquette involved.

But now that he's actually here, his nerves settle a little, and he smiles brightly at the other three boys. This will be fun. He likes Zuko, and he's curious to know more about Wan. And even if everything goes awry and the whole thing is horribly awkward... at least Gene is here.

"Hey, Zuko. Hi Wan." He waves at the other couple, then walks up to Gene and kisses him on the cheek. "You look great," he says, with a warmer, gentler smile that is for Gene alone.

"So, is everybody ready to eat?"