May 12th Meeting Part ???

[writeastherain]

I'm terribly sorry, but I'm utilizing the ADA building so we can meet later tonight and discuss what we learned at the Reblooming picnic!!!!

Oh! I'll bring snacks. But I'll clean up after! Even if you didn't go, let's all try to meet up so we can learn as much as possible!

[Aimee attaches the same location as Fauna did before, Cafe Shayou, so no one accidentally gets lost.]

Comments

Mingle

[writeastherain]

[As a sign of gratitude, Aimee has left some snacks out. She wasn't sure what to include, so it's just an assortment of everything, along with soda, bottled tea, maybe some coffee and juice.

As for her, until it's time for the actual meeting, she'll be hiding in some corner, her face buried in a book as she mentally prepares.]

[nightwild]

[FAUNA IS AROUND. She's just supervising this time, but she is hunting down Aimee in particular...]

[writeastherain]

[Any time Aimee catches sight of Fauna, she immediately squeaks and hides her face behind the book. Maybe she won't notice?

Maybe she should use her illusions...]

[badend_replay]

Aimee?

[Rika arrives a little bit early as well. She could sense from the text messages that maybe Aimee has a bit overwhelmed, so she's brought some tableclothes and a basket of cute fruit sandwiches to help out. Though for now, she keeps the fabric draped over her arm and only sets down the basket; One thing at a time!]

You look tense. Is everything alright?

[writeastherain]

Mn?

[Aimee peeks her head over her book but finds herself accidentally staring at the basket of fruit sandwiches.

...They're so cute!!! She almost forgets Rika asked her a question.]

Do I? I'm sorry...I'm fine! How are you?? Thank you for helping out, the sandwiches look delicious.

[myturf]

[ Karin helped walk everything over, doing a little bit of helping but otherwise, just lets Aimee cook. She's around for chatting, not particularly planning to be hyper useful here, but. ]

Bubble-chan, you sure about this? You gonna be able to handle it?

[writeastherain]

Ms. Karin-san!

[Looking over her shoulder, the smile she gives Karin is sincere, albeit a little frazzled.]

I...I think I can handle it! Everyone here is for the same thing, even if we have different ideas of how to handle it, so when I think about it like that, it's not as daunting... I just hope they like the snacks! And that no one ends up fighting...

Cherry Blossom Tree Spirit Info

[writeastherain]

[Okay, enough people have trickled in for the meeting to start, she supposes. She takes a deep breath and gets started.]

Let's discuss the tree spirit first. For those of us who went to last night's Reblooming picnic...we already knew the spirit was lonely. I can't hear spirits, but I know that many of us have that ability now. Did we learn anything more about the spirit? Has anyone overheard anything from the civilians lately that could be useful?

[tapformana]

The spirit stopped crying when I danced for it. Other spirits even joined in to sing and dance with me.

... There are special dances for the spirits that are basically forgotten now. I found that out at the library. Like kagura dances, sacred dances for the spirits. I want to try to do one of those for the spirit, but I can't find instructions or examples... There's just too much information in the library. Can anyone help me look?

[writeastherain]

I can help you look. I'm...familiar with the library. If we look together, I'm certain we'll find something faster.

You're a dancer, Tap-san?

[popsometags]

I assisted Asakura Ryoko in speaking to the spirit. I believe that showing concern and our planning is helping immensely. The spirit's wish was to Rebloom once more, and have the locals visit to meet them.

The spirit has inhabited the tree for hundreds of years, and is tired. No doubt from loneliness.

[priceofmagic]

In that case, we probably want to focus on keeping the spirit on that lower level, right? So we'd want to either heal the tree or grant its wish before it gets cut down.

[anenemies]

I didn't hear anything from the spirit, but while I was at work I did hear some customers talking about the tree~ Apparently the tree is old and infected, which is killing the tree. If it's that harmful, we can presume that it's probably the roots...otherwise it would be a lot easier to handle.

[melancholie]

In the past, this tree spirit has been connected to a Rumor that causes people to disappear. We should keep an eye on that too. If it progresses too much, people may lose faith in the kami of love and force us to reset this timeline...

[dereban]

Similarly to what the others said: the spirit said that they were forgotten and they didn't have a formal name; they were simply referred to as 'the cherry blossom tree' by the children, as there were no other cherry blossom trees in the lower level.

They also consider that just being referred to as such was enough for them, as well as just watching over the people in the lower level.

[everpromisedthunder]

The spirits actually led me to the tree a while back.

[Mei folds her arms.]

Let me recount something one of the elders told me while I was there again...

"That tree has been there since my childhood -- this was all before spirits were known to exist, so you know.

We later found out that the tree was being used as the shrine for one such spirit; after that, no one really... went to visit it."

From what I can gather, it seems like there are mixed opinions about this. On the one hand, there's people guilty about leaving that tree alone, much less the spirit hiding in it. But on the other... the general sentiment about spirits there sticks out like a sore thumb. I can safely say there was some significant resentment involved...

[followthepolestar]

I--I have something to add too! Some of the locals apparently saw the picnic we held in front of the tree... I couldn't help but notice they were a bit sad while they were talking about it...

More importantly, they also mentioned the tree is scheduled to be cut down at the end of the month. This should at least give us some time to figure out how to save it, but... that tree had to mean a lot to someone, right...?

Solutions

[writeastherain]

Let's discuss what our potential solutions are. If possible, I want to save the spirit...and I don't think I'm the only one who does.

((ooc; for the sake of staying organized, if your characters want to add any solutions, please use this toplevel!))

[popsometags]

Here was the suggestion we came up with.

An appeal to the elder locals on this level, who may have participated in Reblooming as children. Let them know that the tree may be cut down soon, and it'd be good to see it once more.

Potentially... if they could see the Reblooming one more time, potentially with the generations that followed them, that may be enough to help.

[anenemies]

Quick question~! Raise your hand if you have a healing spirit contract. [...] And raise your hand if you know anything about gardening!

I overheard some people trying to use healing contracts to heal flowers, and it made me think. Before we cut down the tree, it wouldn't hurt to dig up the soil and see just how far the infection has spread. We can trust what people say all we like, but we need visual proof. If there are any health roots left, and we combine spirit healing contracts with fresh soil with the proper drainage, it might still be possible to save the cute tree~

[nightwild]

I brought it up before, but to repeat it:

If the tree can't be saved, I think we should cut it down and use what wood we can to build a formal shrine for it at a higher level.

And for faith... I don't think we could make a proper kami of it, but why don't we give it a role it can fill? How about, "the guardian spirit who watches over the Reblooming"? That should get its new shrine plenty of attention.

[dereban]

I have two ideas.

The first: if, for whatever reason, we have to cut down the tree, I have offered the spirit, if they decide to take it, a spirit contract and utilize the tree to make a shrine for that specific purpose. That spirit cares about the lower level and the people there, so I believe that's a better option than making a shrine on the upper level, especially when you keep in consideration of its feelings. I live on the lower level and want to help make things better there, in a way so that the locals down there can at least proper acknowledge spirits. They explicitly told me that if other people are willing to help me with this juncture that they are more likely to consider it than not.

The second: I don't know if we've forgotten the core of the Rumor besides the fact that the cherry blossom spirit ends up affected by it, but it deals with people disappearing because of us- I want to counter the words by its roots. Now that being said: the idea I have to do such a thing is by holding a Fallen Stars Welcoming Party at the location of the tree and inviting all the locals to it. I want everyone to see just how different we are from the rumors that have spread: that we aren't bad luck or the kind of people that would look down on others. That we aren't just willing to just simply take, but give back to the community as well. We can have people cook and perform, and if anybody has any plans on having any businesses that they'd like to open soon, it'd be a good opportunity to advertise.

That's my thoughts, anyway.

[starrysynthesizer]

[Saki is sort of nervous to take the stand, since she is still very out of the loop. But when she sees an opening, she does gather her courage and stand up.]

Hi, I'm Saki Tenma! And I don't know everything about what's going on, but...

Spirits can't speak to people, right? But it sounds like this spirit has a lot of strong feelings for this town... What if we wrote a song to convey those feelings to everyone? If we can make it really catchy, then maybe people will stop to listen and they can finally understand what the spirit is feeling!

Wishmaker

[popsometags]

I believe that Yuuto-san asked last time if there were any ideas on dealing with Wishmaker if they should appear where the spirit is.

While I'm sure it would be difficult, I'd like to propose myself and another person to check in and ensure that nothing bad happens. Dealing with them may startle the spirit, but we need to figure out what we can do for them at some point.

If I can purify them somehow, I'd want to take that chance. So, if there are any concerns or suggestions, please let me know.

Misc. Information

[writeastherain]

Uhm...okay. Is there anything I'm forgetting that anyone would like to add to?