Don't Skip Your Flu Shot

[purrtagonist]

Who: Everyone! It's a mingle post for the first week of Struxta sickness!!
Where: All around the temple
When: During the first week of the sickness
Rating PG?? At most??
What: Curry, blankets and pillow forts, and other assorted sick things

[With the Struxta illness sweeping through the temple like a wildfire, and with so many new arrivals trying to get adjusted to temple living, it's probably no surprise that things around the Astoria's little pocket of space have gotten a little hectic. Feeling under the weather? Looking for something warm to soothe that scratchy throat? Just want to curl up underneath a pile of blankets and not move for like, seven hours or so? Never fear! A Mysterious Helper (TM) has you covered]

A. Curry in the Kitchen

[The kitchen smells extremely nice during lunchtime this week, the only meal of the day that isn't pre-prepared by the misty servants. Like the scent of coffee intermingled with complementary spices. Those who take the initiative to investigate will find something pleasant waiting for them. A few pots of fresh made curry and steamed rice; a few pots of miso soup (a. . . little on the salty side, sorry); and some freshly brewed coffee already poured into individual mugs, along with cream and sugar and whatever additives your heart desires. It's all strewn out across the counter tops with a handwritten note pinned against the wall above the stove:]

Help yourself, and get well soon.

[There isn't any sign of the mysterious chef when you enter the kitchen, and if you arrive near the end of lunch hour, some of the food and coffee miiiiight be a bit cold. But hey! This might be a good chance to mingle with some of your new coworkers who are also seeking out a warm meal to help quell some of their cold symptoms. Just please don't sneeze into the curry pot, thanks. . .]

[Lunch will be laid out in the kitchen every day at lunchtime for the entire first week of the sickness. Help yourselves!]

B. The Temple Hallways

[THERE ARE BLANKETS AND PILLOWS EVERYWHERE]

[. . . no, seriously. For some reason, it's like you can't even walk down a hallway without tripping over a bundled up blanket or a pillow. What's up with that! For the most part, they're normal bedtime accessories, although you may find a bundle of pillows and blankets stacked up into an ENTIRE PILLOW FORT if you're lucky.]

[Pinned to the walls of the hallways (not every hallway, but enough of them that it should be easy to find one of the signs without wandering for too long) are more handwritten signs:]

Whoever can build the tallest pillow fort will receive one (1) high five as a grand prize. Good luck. Blanket provider is not responsible for anyone accidentally falling asleep in the hallways and blocking your route back to your bedroom.

[Hm. Well, that's weird. Anyway! You can build a pillow fort if you want, grab some blankets to take back to your room, or. . . nap in the hallways. Or do whatever! They're all free for the taking. Maybe you could even team up with another Circle member to try and win that extremely coveted high five??]

C. Wildcard

[Don't feel like interacting with any of the above? That's okay! Make your own prompt based on the event stuff over here, or just use this post for. . . whatever you want! It's totally and completely open for mingling for new and old characters alike, so. HAVE FUN ♥]

Comments

[p_mortem]

[ The point is to make the tallest pillow fort! And Minato would like to do it with the least number of pillows, because they are getting a little sore just from his six-foot attempt.

He echoes Hajiime's hum as he crouches down where the base of his tower once stood, and sets another pillow up on the same spot. ]

Koromaru was making sure nobody would accidentally nudge it. Guess that didn't work.

[ Ambient air with a faint passing breeze destroyed his tower... Instead of adding a second pillow, he looks up at Hajime for guidance. ]

[twitter]

[ she approaches, walking around the pillow that is now serving as the first new stone planted on what was once ground zero. quietly, she sets her own pillow down right next to it. ]

We build up, but we stack two pillows next to each other so they'll act as a brace. It means we'll need more pillows for this, but it'll be harder to knock over!

[p_mortem]

[ Minato remains couched there, reaching for whatever fallen pillows he can reclaim that are still in arm's reach, and Koromaru fetches the others- maybe these are the ones that should be used as the base, dog spit making them just a little denser and sturdier. ]

It'll be twice as short, though. [ He passes a dog spit pillow Hajime's way. She's construction master now. ] And it'll get heavy on top...

[twitter]

We can change it so that it's only one stacked up! But it's very important to have a strong base, so it's less likely that it'll start swaying again.

[ she takes the dog spit pillow and places it down gently, as if it were a baby. ]

[p_mortem]

[ They make a good team, Koromaru bringing Minato the pillows, Minato bridging the narrow gap across himself to hand it off to Hajime. Strong bases do make sense, although it does make him think of that other tower he had to scale- there were so many offshoots, and the floors were perilously unstable some nights, but the base was definitely big. ]

Makes sense. With two of us, we can stop it from swaying, too.

[ aka his original plan of just holding the tower in place, but she's better suited for that than a dog is. ]

[twitter]

Right, right! You know what they say, it takes two to flamenco.

[ that is definitely not how the saying goes, but she says it with the confidence of someone who did say it correctly. ]

Have you thought of a name for it yet?

[ the pillow tower. ]

[p_mortem]

[ It does take two to flamenco, right...? Uncultured homebody that he is, he knows nothing about flamenco besides the hand-held clappy thing, so he'll just nod sagely and accept it. ]

That one...

[ He tilts his head towards the floor, more or less clear now but previously featuring the ruins of his old fort. ]

-was "Fort Arisato." How about we name this one after you? Since you're the lead architect.

[twitter]

Then... Fort Ichinose!

[ she points at herself with a hand that isn't holding a pillow. ]

Hajime.

[p_mortem]

Fort Ichinose... Hajime.

[ He nods slowly to himself. It sounds good to him, utilizing both names and all, and since she's readily agreed with his suggestion of naming it after her, he decides he can spare a little more effort in constructing this pillow fort than usual. ]

Pillow forts don't need to be just pillows, right? If we find some thin blankets to wrap around it, it won't fall apart.

[twitter]

Good idea! And it'll make it look nicer too!

[ blankets give it more character, after all. it breathes more life into the fort. ]

[p_mortem]

[ It'll definitely look less rickety than a pillow tower, which fits the definition of "nicer." ]

Can I leave you to build the base? I'll find blankets.

[twitter]

Gatcha!

[ she salutes. she will stay here as long as she has to in order to make this project succeed. ]

Try to find some suuuuper cute ones if you can!

[p_mortem]

[ Minato returns the salute before heading off in search of super cute blankets, leaving Koromaru behind with Hajime so the dog can continue helping her out/sit there being moral support/as a promise that Minato will return... eventually...

It takes a while trying to find something that might be super cute. There's a lot of white, mostly, some basic patterns in faded colors that he tries to look out for, so those are the handful of fabric that he manages to collect, a bundle in his arms that makes it hard to see around, forcing him to move about the halls by switching between peeking around the blankets and shuffling forward a couple of feet.

How's the fort coming along? Would it withstand Minato misjudging the distance and bumping into it? ]

[twitter]

[ a few pillows at the top might fall over, but the majority of it will stand tall. you'd probably have to either bump into at a faster speed or be deliberately trying to knock it over to tumble the entirety of it at this rate. ]

Oh! Those are perfect! Right, Koro-chan?

[ koromaru's opinion on the cuteness of the blankets is important. ]

[p_mortem]

[ How good, it's already passed the test. aka it holds up a lot better than Minato's previous fort, which isn't a difficult feat. He sets the blankets down on the ground and sits right on top of them, massaging his arms as Koromaru barks his approval, tail wagging side to side.

Minato gives him a look, but Koromaru just gives him a doggy smile back. ]

I think he agrees. You guys are getting along, huh?

[ Koro-chan... The dog really does look happy being called that again. ]

[twitter]

Yup! He's a very good worker.

[ he is the best worker in this whole place? what a good doggy, he got many belly rubs while minato was gone. ]

You're going to have to do the stacking soon.

[ because hajime is like 5'1 and after a certain point she is literally going to be unable to do it without knocking it all over. ]

[p_mortem]

[ Koromaru gives some happy barks at the compliment, and Minato can't help but smile a little too. Those two got so much done already, so he gives Koromaru a pat on the head and faces the tower when it's his turn. ]

Ichinose, can you start reinforcing the base?

[ Leave the stacking to him! It's his time to shine.

Only.

Minato is 5'7", so he can stack maybe one or two more pillows than Hajime can, which he slides on top as carefully as possible, but he's already having to stand on his tip-toes to do so, almost knocking the whole thing over when he feels a bump on the side of his leg. It's Koromaru, with a pillow in his mouth; that'll work: he picks the dog up and lifts him up over his head to place the next pillow on top, giving the fort a few more inches. ]

[twitter]

Teamwork!

[ hajime wishes she had her cellphone so she could have gotten a picture of that. she hasn't attempted to see if the watch they received can take pictures yet since she's been busy with.

well, fort building, apparently. ]

It looks very strong.

[p_mortem]

[ Minato's shirt sleeves are covering his watch and he probably won't notice it for a good several weeks unless he gets a message on it first. But he too wishes he had a way to take a picture of the fort as it is now, standing back and giving it a look over with an approving nod of his head. ]

It does look strong. Should we test the structural integrity? Or find the judge first.

[ Before it gets demolished. —or it might not get demolished. Teamwork is strong stuff. ]

[twitter]

We should test it first before letting someone appraise it. That way we can can fix any weak points before we show it off to the world.

[ after all, it would be terrible to present their masterpiece if it has obvious holes in its structure. ]

[p_mortem]

[ Before Minato can give his opinion, Koromaru interjects with a happy bark, tail wagging and standing up straight as he can. This is a job for him! He can imagine this tower as a Shadow and take it down right away, no problem! ]

Koromaru... There's no pillow fort in the world you couldn't take down...

[ Koromaru beams with pride that that, but. What else (that's reasonable) could they use to test it? ]

[twitter]

[ she looks around to see what's in their immediate vicinity and... it's pillows. all they have is pillows by the dozen. ]

We toss 'em.

[p_mortem]

Lay siege on pillows with pillows, huh...? That could work.

[ He picks one of the ones up by his feet and tosses it up and down a couple times in his hands. Hurtling projectiles isn't his forte, but deadly accuracy and all the strength he can muster isn't important here like it would be in a real battle, so this should be fine. Their fort is bound together by friendship blankets, so it'll be fine.

Still, when he throws his pillow, it's a very weak toss, almost pitiful in that it doesn't even reach the fort before it flops onto the ground and sort of slides its way over to bump against the base.

It's still standing. ]

[twitter]

[ ... ah.

hajime claps, completely unironically, because the pillow did technically touch the fort so minato still did his job. ]

My turn!

[ hajime... is better at throwing than minato is. she's pretty athletic, for such a tiny person! so she throws it as hard as she can. the tower wobbles slightly as the pillow collides with it, but as it doesn't have much weight itself, it's not enough to do anything other than nudge the pillows it hit slightly to the left. ]

[p_mortem]

[ Minato doesn't clap, but his back straightens somewhat in surprise and disbelief. A miracle, it's still standing. ]

-Oh. You're impressive.

[ Both for that throw, and the construction of the tower, which he was fully expecting to have fallen despite their best attempts with the strength behind her throw. ]