You aren’t someone who normally receives the morning mail from an owl, but there’s a Snowy Owl perched outside your window. Held in its beak is an elegant, burgundy envelope with your name and address handwritten in black ink. Should you decide to open the window, your winged messenger will take off to the skies after handing you the envelope. You look for a seal or family crest to no avail, yet it still carries the aura of something official. Do you dare open it?
Opening the envelope releases the warm, ashy scent of incense. Yellow flower petals shoot out from the envelope as though they were spring loaded, and they bring with them the refreshing scent of Ylang Ylang oil. You look inside the envelope. As it turns out, its actual contents aren’t as elegant and mysterious as you’ve been lead on to believe.
It’s nothing but a flyer for some store holding a 50% off sale. Ah, marketing tactics these days! You scan some of the offers for this strange place – Yuuko’s Shop, it’s called – and none of them are accompanied by pictures. The coupon expiry dates are odd too, most of them either expiring decades ago or will expire decades from now. You read only some of the deals:
Enchanted Glasses are 50% off – be able to see magic for the very first time!
Owl Delivery Services are 50% off for a limited time only
Fortune Telling is purchase 1 meeting, get the other half off!
Whether you choose to visit the address or throw the letter in the garbage is up to you. But before you make your decision, the bottom of the flyer catches your eye:
Get all your magical needs before it’s too late! Something big is coming soon. ☹︎☜︎✌︎☝︎🕆︎☜︎😐︎✋︎☪︎☠︎✌︎
Yuuko Ichihara
message via owl reminds her of a time in human history she hadn’t personally experienced, not on the same level as now. it reminds her of times long gone, of an aspect of life she can not touch ( which there’s more than enough of as a card than a human ), of novels she fantasizes the adventures of and can only wish magic was so manageable. written literature is just that, what they live is far more unpredictable. a few chapters skimmed or the ending read ahead of time could spare her but even that, she doesn’t dare. she wades in the darkness of the deep sea and rarely surfaces outside of her career choices.
it’s not expected of her, she’s well aware but singing is a true pastime of any mermaid, isn’t it? the magic permeates from the packaging alone and she’s hesitant if only for that reason.
magic, although it granted her comfort when she found it in her fellow love note members, is not always a card’s friend.
( is it a trap? )
yet there’s no lingering suspicion that she’s being presently watched. there’s no security in that finding, it doesn’t mean she’s safe.
a true flower of flowers, the petals shower her in fragrance and she’s momentarily overwhelmed, but the message the envelope has itself is underwhelming and it perplexes her more. the dates are confusing and she wonders if this is truly from a time long past.
( is it some kind of game? )
there is one message that frightens her and she’s quick to look around her once more, quick to look for mijoo or any other member who’s home too. it’s a flyer but it reads like a warning call — the sirens are blaring.
( on another note, she doesn’t understand the symbols. a combination of a time past and modern characters, maybe ethan or mijoo would know more than she does. )
