[network] @captaininvincible; Roses and Violets; Day 152 [open]

[notaquaman]

[The camera opens up on Aigis, who previously has never shown her face on the network before. If she's nervous, she doesn't show it, though she does look rather underdressed for the cold weather in her school uniform.] Hello, everyone. My name is Aigis.

I know that...the situation hasn't been very good for a lot of people lately. [Her face falls a bit as she addresses this, recalling the size of the last obituary and the circumstances which likely prompted it.] I am sorry to everyone who has suffered as a result of the events of the past few days.

Nathan-san and I hoped to provide something that may lift people's spirits. If the records provided by previous messages are correct, then day 155 should be Valentine's Day.

[Here, Nathan interjects, all but swinging the camera in his direction so he can command attention during his part of the important announcement.]

And this Valentine's day, since most of us unlucky bastards don't have someone they fancy, consider celebrating someone you aren't fucking.

[Aigis' voice interrupts from off camera.] Nathan-san, please do not be crude.

[Nathan looks positively scandalized at the chide.]

Who's being crude? I'm talking about love and shit. You know, selflessness! If more people just appreciated one another, maybe they wouldn't kidnap one another and send them to frozen hellscapes. Friends don't let friends be a Robert Miller.

[He points a finger at what is presumably Aigis off camera, before turning his attention back toward the audience on the Network.]

And speaking of loving the things you aren't fucking, say hello to the newest member of the Nathan-Aigis family!

[Here, he lifts a small goldfish bowl up to the tablet. It houses a medium-sized moss ball inside of it, nestled against some sand and rocks at the bottom of the bowl.]

This bloke is Jamie. I actually picked him up a few weeks back, but he was too shy to make his grand debut. The point is, we have something to be grateful for this Valentine's Day, and all of you should, too.

[Aigis speaks again once Nathan is finished.] It's alright if you do not feel like celebrating. But we encourage everyone to do their best to show their appreciation to someone they care about.

((ooc: responses will come from both Nathan and Aigis! If you want one or the other specifically, make sure to let us know!))

Comments

@jphawkins, text

[rattlingthestars]

Whoa, what is that thing?

[ Pet!! Jim is clearly focusing on the important thing here. ]

Either of you going to explain what Valentine's day is?

@Aigis; text

[athenashand]

Jamie-san is a type of algae that grows in the form of a ball. They're referred to as "marimo" where I come from. They don't grow naturally in most places.

I could explain Valentine's Day, but I don't know if I would be the best one to do it. Do you require an explanation?

[rattlingthestars]

So it's a plant? Is it intelligent?

[ Those things aren't mutually exclusive where Jim's from. ]

It's not something we have on my planet. Or in my universe, I don't know.

@lockhart; voice

[powersouls]

Nathan. I'm sorry he's so... weird, Aigis.

[It's obligatory, okay. She has to get that out of the way before they can have a normal conversation. Anyway, moving on:]

Um... I appreciate you, Nathan, even if you're being gross. You're funny and sweet, and I'm glad we met and became friends. Happy Valentine's Day.

video;

[notaquaman]

[Nathan opens his mouth, clearly about to protest that he's not weird, but thinks better of it. Instead, he gets the stupidest look on his face, grinning knowingly.]

Aw. You love me.

[powersouls]

Are you going to tease me about it?

@hawkguy, video

[awwnoun]

[ Oh... Valentine's Day. Of course. Clint tries for cheerful at least! ]

Hey, that little moss guy is pretty cute. Happy Valentine's Day, I guess.

video;

[notaquaman]

Pretty cute? Are you disrespecting my little man?

[Nathan's disapproving scowl is a bit too over the top to be serious.]

Babies are "pretty cute". Jamie doesn't shit his pants. That immediately bumps him up to precious, at least.

[awwnoun]

[ Clint laughs, putting his bandaged and couch-fabric'd hands up in surrender. ]

Whoa, whoa, precious. You're saying cute is less disrespectful than precious? We've got a different scale, looks like, but alright, uh - precious, then.

@makeme; audio

[coyoteking]

[Say what you want, Aigis, Charles laughs when Nathan says his bit about celebrating someone you're not fucking. But it's another thing that actually gets his attention.]

"Nathan-san"? Are you from Japan, Aigis?

[He's never seen her before, but she looks... very blonde. Which could just mean she dyes her hair??? There are some other oddities too but he's not gonna pry.]

Right, uh. Also Happy Valentine's Day?

@Aigis; audio

[athenashand]

[Fortunately, Aigis does not mind answering this unrelated question!] Yes, that's correct. Happy Valentine's Day! [Even if she's not human, she's happy to have her home recognized, since it seems so very far away from where she is now.] Are you from Japan too?

@donner; video

[imgonnatouchit]

[Hange, of course, is ignoring the main gist of this video and focusing in entirely on something else.]

Is that a living plant? Where did you find it?

video;

[notaquaman]

House with the gross fish tank. Pretty fucking incredible find if I do say so myself.

@zachtastic; video

[majorlazer]

[Zach's not going to comment on the 'celebrate someone you're not fucking' part. After all, he can do both, but as much as he wants to rub the fact that he is having sex in Nathan's face, Aigis didn't ask for this.

Nor did the rest of the network.]

Happy V-Day! [He's cheerful about it. Why not, after all.] If you want to celebrate, Nathan, I've got a cigar with both our names on it. And by that I mean a real cigar, okay. [He goes looking through his backpack for a bit, and then pulls out the cigar he found ages ago and still has yet to light up.

Then Zach smiles, remembering all too well the one time he met Aigis - in her dream. He wonders if she remembers; it's amazing to him that he does, but then again, you probably don't forget someone who looks like her.]

Hi, Aigis. It's nice to meet you for real.

video;

[notaquaman]

Jesus fucking Christ, you know how to make a man thirsty.

[Nathan gives a wistful sigh and all but collapses backward into a sad, drugless puddle.]

What I wouldn't give for a celebratory Valentine's Day joint.

@Aigis; video

[athenashand]

[Aigis does remember, and she smiles politely in recognition when she sees Zach. She doesn't really like to think about that dream too much, but she met some nice people because of it.] Hello, Zach-san. It's nice to meet you too. I hope you are able to have a good Valentine's Day despite the circumstances.

@guardian; video;

[phaseshifter]

What's Valen--

[ Wait, no, she's got this. "Christmas" turned out to be the equivalent of Mercenary Day, right? And since it's a couple of months after that, and this holiday is about appreciating people that you may or may not be Doing The Do with... ]

-- Oh! Loverpalooza! So it's in... what, three days? And on Earth you don't have to be romantically linked to someone to give them gifts for it or anything?

[ She is going to send SO MANY CARDS ]

video;

[notaquaman]

Nope. Schoolchildren usually give out candy grams to all their friends and classmates. I try to get some flowers or chocolates for my mum every year.

[He's a decent son when he wants to be. Sometimes.]

@Ecks | text

[ecks]

What is Valentine's Day? How are we meant to celebrate a person? And why?

@Griever | Text

[canyouhandlethismany]

Valentine's day is the most misterious of all festivities, at least in my world, I have no idea what the spirit behind it is like but you're supposed to celebrate your loved one during it.

People are usually meant to share chocolates to celebrate it, flowers too, but most of the time the correct way to celebrate it is to know what's really important for the person you love and do something nice for them.

Why... There is no real reason, people like to celebrate love and celebrating Valentine's day is a socially accepted convention for couples.

voice;

[notaquaman]

Valentine's Day is the one day of the year that you're allowed to express your innermost affection for others in the form of ritual sacrifice without any kind of judgment being lobbed back at you. Love and violence go together, you know. That's always been true throughout history.

[Was Nathan that big liar? No. No way.]

As for the why, it's because Saint Valentine demands blood sacrifice to be sure that we're still filling our love quota. If we don't love someone enough to make the ultimate sacrifice, he'll rise from the earth and turn us into his bleeding heart drones.

@starspangledhero; voice; Aigis get over here

[fifty]

Oh, jeez, that is coming up, isn't it? [America has been keeping track of the days, but Valentine's Day often snuck away from him. He hadn't really had a reason to pay too much attention to it before, aside from discounted candy the day after, but--

No, new topic.]

Yo, Aigis, uh, aren't you cold?

@Aigis; voice

[athenashand]

Yes. We hoped to give people a few days' notice so that they could make plans.

[At the second question, Aigis makes a neutral sound, apparently in thought. It takes her a moment to decide how to address it.] I am a little cold. I have not been able to find better clothing for the weather.

["A little cold" doesn't anywhere near cover it, but she doesn't want to worry anyone.]

@ketximq; video

[mightyratslayer]

[Valentine's Day? Huh. Math isn't exactly Charlie's strong suit, but that means his birthday was a couple of days ago. That's... kind of a bummer.

So he's gonna go bug Nathan and Aigis instead of thinking about it.]

What's the thing in the bowl? Like some kinda cool fish or something?

[notaquaman]

It's like a fish that you don't have to feed, yeah? It doesn't swim around but it also probably won't get some shitty disease out of nowhere that you can do fuck-all about. Aigis says he's a marimo. I just thought, hey, look at this green moss thing! Like, shit, I'll take it!