rainbowlounge | The Villa Is Open

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roleplay: open

The Villa Is Open

Zephyr had a plan. "We are gonna make you the best electric milkshake that ever was!"

"Or will be!" Pip joined in, clapping her hands over her head as she danced along before him and Roa and generally got in the way of where they were trying to walk.

This gave Zephyr plenty of excuse to pause at the end of the hall and make himself a sweeping gesture. "In the historya... ah..." one that should have ended with him banging his hand on the wall.

Except for the part where the applicable wall had disappeared and not in the usual behold the busted drywall kind of way. It was just gone. Likewise, the hallway and the entirety of Sky Plaza.

Zephyr stood on some low, sweeping stone steps. That happened to be outside, while just a moment before been /inside/ and headed to the kitchen. "OK, what the hell?"

Roa took in the sudden sky all golden up the flanks of the villa before them and held her finger to her lips in curiosity. "I don't know, actually." Then, she attempted to walk down the way they had come. This got her over the steps and almost to the spray from the fountain in the drive before it became quite apparent merely turning around wasn't going to accomplish much besides dampening her shoes. Back up she went. "This *looks* like where they held the last Court of the Manor."

"You dunno?" his next sound was an odd one, not a moan and not a laugh, and awfully feline besides. "Yeah, that's not freakin me out or nothin. Dun you know everythin?"

"Zephyyyr. Same to you."

"You guys," interjected Pip, her bare toes rapping on the stone. "Think this's kinda the same thing happened to Seb."

"Hm?" Zephyr craned himself her way, and their hands tangled together, wires all a-flash.

"Mm!"

"Mnhn."

"Nnn~."

"Well, I like your theory so far," Roa nodded. Mostly, she wasn't being silly right back at their latest ridiculous display. Mostly. "Happened to Siebenkas...?"

"Yeah, he had this dream," the elder of the two evokers almost began to explain, digits working.

Whatever he meant to coax out of the recollections between them, Pip took over, swaying as she did. "He thinks was a dream, but is totally notta dream. I know. I touched him thinkin about it an it was all wrong fora dream. Still didn't make any sense, but not the same kinda way dreams do."

"Also, Seb never dreams he's nekkid. Fun fact."

("So useful, too," Roa remarked, quite to herself.)

"But, he walked outta his bathroom an alla a sudden, he was in this bar in Old New York an there were all these other people an he was almost kinda sorta mebbe flirtin with this mob boss lady over gin an tonic and then there was this real cute muddy guy. Seb didn't think he was so cute, but I did. He got way more distracted by the other lady evoked with her eyes and the booze was good an there were pretty blond polyamourous peeps bonkin in the restroom an... an... an..."

Her not so little description might have gone on another few hours, except that Zephyr reached around with his unoccupied hand and tickled her. The way they'd tangled up together, she must have known it was coming.

Which left Roa to conclude Pip wanted tickled more than she wanted to discuss any washroom adventures. "On one hand, that sounds very much like a dream to me. On the other, if there's some sort of precedent for people in our manor suddenly disobeying all known laws of physics. And you're not playing some sort of elaborate prank."

"Hey! I had my heart set on givin you your first electric milkshake an that's not somethin I'd go back on for any money." Next thing she did know with any certainty, Zephyr had play staggered over, clutching at his shirt, "'m so disappointed it /huuurts/."

"Well, you can make it up to me when the universe goes back to normal."

Grin for the time being, too.

"It is going to go back to normal?"

"Did last time. 's why we still gotta Seb an notta portal to someplace called Dan's," said Pip.

"Alright, so why don't we...?"

"Make the besta it?"

"Yes!" Roa swung from Zephyr's grasp. He only then reached for her, trying to find that place in her moments where the best meant [concrete] he could play after and with her. As it was, he missed her as she skipped the villa steps instead, swirling her skirt in her hands and calling back after: "We're going to get company, right?"

"Woul, that'd be nice, but if not," he shrugged. "We get blitzed an watch the stars come out." A quick little sigh and a pop of his shoulder after, he followed.

Pip watched the space in the sky where the clouds should have been. The end of her nose twitched. "We're so gettin company. Can smell it, almost. Somethin's zactly not right out there." Laughing then, she blew past them both and straight through the doors.

Stuff you actually need to know available in this direction:
http://rainbowlounge.dreamwidth.org/18653.html

Have fun!

ETA: This post has not been up thirty-six hours and we officially have more than 500 comments. SO I SUPPOSE THIS ISN'T FUN AT ALL AMMIRITE? XD

ETA II: I am really, really touched that everyone wants to take care of the deceased fellow in the pool. I'm sure he appreciates it (he didn't even have a name in the story where he first appeared ;_;). But, alas, there was only one of him and he's currently being handled. He may be installed in a bedroom shortly, and should that happen, I will give him his own thread for poking purposes.

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Gina glanced to her side, and saw a sweet-looking young girl, with big eyes and a shy smile. "No problem," she replied, all the maternal instincts in her flaring up unexpectedly. "I'm Gina. What's your name?"

Head-on, the woman was very beautiful, with her honey-gold hair and startling blue eyes (Yuyan would never really get used to coloring that wasn't dark, like her own), but it was her smile that drew Yuyan to her, like a beam of sunshine.

"I'm Yuyan," she told Gina. "You can call me Yan, if that's easier."

Gina tried to fit her mouth around Yuyan's name and couldn't. "Yan, then," she said, and smiled. "I'm sorry, I'm not very good with other languages. I'm an English major originally, and it sort of takes over your voice."

Yuyan nodded carefully, as not to get stuck with the fireflies' needle-sharp antennae. "It's fine," she replied. "It seems like it's only easy if you already speak my language to begin with."

She frowned, confused. "What's an 'English major'?" she asked, hugging herself self-consciously. Such a pretty place, and she was merely half-dressed.

Ah. Different culture, clearly. Gina frowned as she tried to think of a way to explain it. "It's my... program of study, when I was in school. Of course, that was a long time ago."

School! Yuyan's mouth dropped open in awe. "You got to go to school?" she asked. Some women could read and write--Ma could, because her father was a scholar, and so could Grandma--and she knew how to read and write, but not as well as Setsuko or Ansheng.

In Huaxia, anyone could take the imperial examinations and become a court official, but usually those opportunities went to those who could afford it.

"You, you must come from a very wealthy family, if you could go to school," she said.

"Not really," Gina said, rather startled. "I had forty thousand dollars in student loans to pay off. And that's only because my parents split the cost of my tuition with me. It could have been a lot more."

Unless... Most of the people here were from different universes, as mind-boggling as that was. Maybe this girl was from somewhere that people didn't usually go to school. Gina tilted her head. "But then I come from a place with mandatory public schooling until you're eighteen, and most people go to college after that."

"Forty thousand dollars...?" Yuyan asked. She wrinkled her brow in thought--the last time she'd ended up in a strange place, someone had told her the value of one--enough to buy a dozen eggs, but not much else.

"There was a woman who told me a dollar was worth a dozen eggs and something called a 'soda,'" she told Gina. "I think her name was Ivy. She had red hair and was very nice to me."

When Gina told her about having to go to school until eighteen, Yuyan's eyes grew wide. "You have to? And there's more school after that? Even if you're poor?" Well, her family wasn't quite poor, but they weren't living in a manor with servants and wearing silks.

(OOC: not sure if characters can reference previous RP visits, but I thought the Ivy thing was too good to pass up. Let me know if that's not OK!)

Gina's eyebrows shot up. "Red hair?" she asked, and fumbled in her purse until she came up with her phone. She paged through the pictures until she found one of Ivy and Andy, Andy smiling over his mother's shoulder, and held it out to Yuyan. "Is this her?"

As for school... "Public school doesn't cost anything," she said. "It's paid for by the government, so you can go even if you don't have any money, because it's free. College costs a lot of money, though, and... that's a problem. It's optional, but it should be available even if you don't have a lot of money. Student loans aren't cheap either; they're not an answer."

Not that she had feelings on the subject or anything.

There it was, that phone again, the same kind Emilia had shown her! It fascinated Yuyan still. She peered at the woman in the picture--yes, there it was, the same red hair and sharp features. "That is her!" Which meant that this Gina was probably the one Ivy had been talking about. "You're Ivy's...wife, right?" Women marrying each other wasn't really heard of, where she was from, and in Ivy's world, frowned upon, but really, they seemed like such nice people. "Ivy had a lot of nice things to say about you."

"Oh, going to school without having to pay sounds very nice," Yuyan said. "I have to do chores and help at my mother's restaurant and train. Do you have time for that too? But why would college cost so much money? Is it for people who want to take imperial exams and work in government?"

"Yeah, we're married." Gina looked at the picture, at her beautiful, blessed, idiotic wife, and added, "When I get home I'm going to get her. I can't believe this happened and she didn't tell me about it. Although I am glad she said nice things about me."

"Oh, I definitely had chores," she said. "But my father had a good job, so my mother and I didn't have to work, and I didn't really... train for anything, I'm not sure what you meant by that. As for college, I have no idea why it costs so much. It shouldn't, especially the government-subsidized ones. And, no, it's just for anyone who wants to go to college. State Department exams are something different. At least in the States."

"Oh, no, don't get too mad at her," Yuyan said, panicking. "I didn't really tell anyone either the last time, because I was afraid they wouldn't believe me." Everyone except Setsuko, that is, because she'd been at that bar too, but swept up by different people. Come to think of it, Yuyan could feel her around somewhere...

"My father is a fisherman, and my mother owns a restaurant," she ventured shyly. "As for training, well, we have a family martial art, and my grandmother didn't want it to die out, so she's been teaching my brother and me since we were little." It hadn't seemed that useful for Mengli, not in their village, but it'd saved her countless times.

"I've never heard of a place where anyone can go to college," she said. "It's a shame it costs so much..."

Gina paused, and looked at Yuyan, at her wide eyes and fearful face. "It won't be anything bad," she said, in her most soothing tones. "We'll just have a little fight and then kiss and make up." Or, well, have sex and make up, but Yuyan probably didn't want to hear about that part. "I just think she should have told me. It would have made this a lot less scary, that's all."

"Oh, that's lovely!" she exclaimed. "Family heritage is so important. And in that sense, yes, I did get trained. How to cook right." She smiled. "My grandmother had opinions on how one properly cooks lasagne."

"Yes, it is a shame. College should be accessible to everyone, not just people who can afford it." She sighed. "Unfortunately you and I are minority opinions."

"Oh!" Yuyan laughed, embarrassed. "I see. That's all right, then. If people were more like you, I guess I wouldn't be afraid of telling them..."

She nodded demurely, blushing. "It's not as wonderful as some of the other fighting styles out there," she said, "but it's very useful, I've found, especially if you have a sword. But cooking! My mother's trained me, since she wants me to take over the restaurant." Well, did, before Lin'an came and summoned her. "What is 'la-sa-nia?' It sounds interesting, and I like finding new things to cook."

"Ivy and I fight a lot," Gina admitted. "But it's all... little things. Like I'm upset because she was reckless about something again, or she's upset because I'm being too cautious and she thinks I'm missing something. They tend to be because we love each other, and we want the best for each other, but we have different ideas of what that is." She smiled. "We always make up in the end."

Her eyes went wide at the second thing. "You fight with a sword? That's... amazing, and kind of terrifying. Nothing like my cooking. Lasagne's a kind of pasta dish, with tomato sauce and cheese and meat, or spinach if you want to make it vegetarian. I usually use beef."

Yuyan nodded in understanding. Like the bickering that happened between Ma and Dad sometimes. "My parents do that too," she said, "but usually that's because my mother thinks my father's gone and done something stupid again. But he still loves her, anyway."

She blushed, looking down at her feet. "I have been, since I was nine," she said, with a little pride. "It's not like I look for fights--I did once, not with a sword, though, and my grandmother got so angry at me. I bet your cooking's amazing, though, if not terrifying. But what is tomato sauce?" Cheese she'd tasted, and some varieties she liked, although not all of them, and spinach seemed like she could get it easily enough. Meat was still a bit of a luxury where she came from.

Gina snorted. "I can sympathize with your mother," she said, very dryly. "I love Ivy with all my heart, but dear God, does she do stupid things sometimes."

"I didn't think you did go looking for fights," she added, after a moment. "You... I know I don't know you very well but you don't seem the type. Tomato sauce is a sauce made from a fruit we call tomato. It's red and rich and spiced, like..." She cast about for an equivalent that Yuyan might know.

"I think she and my father might get along, then," Yuyan said. "He doesn't mean to do silly things, but sometimes he'll just forget, or not think of it."

She laughed ruefully at Gina's comment. "More like the fights find me sometimes," she said, glancing at the scar peeking from her sleeve. "But fruit sauce! On something that's not sweet? That's not like peppers, is it?" Some peppers were sweet, but she was more familiar with chili peppers, which were incredibly spicy. Good, but you needed something sweet later to cool your mouth.

"Yep," Gina said, and sighed. "That's Ivy. She just doesn't think before she does things. If she did, she'd be fine. But she doesn't."

"Mm, not quite like peppers?" Gina thought about it for a moment. "They taste like green peppers a little, but sweeter, and very juicy. And sometimes the small ones are quite tart. I don't know, it's hard to explain if you haven't had one." She glanced over at the buffet. "Actually, they might have some cherry tomatoes over there."

Yuyan nodded. "My father has a good heart, but...sometimes it doesn't turn out well."

Cherry tomatoes sounded interesting. "I'd like to try some, if we can find them. And if it's all right with you, of course."

"Sure, let's go look." Gina led Yuyan over to the buffet and picked around until she found a few in the salad.

"Ah, here we go." She fished one out of the salad with the spoon. "Hold out your hands."

What Gina took out of the salad was indeed very red and very round, like a large red pearl.

Yuyan obediently held out her hands, palms up. "If it's fruit, why is it with other vegetables?" she asked. "Is...is that a salad?" That would explain why the vegetables weren't cooked. People in Huaxia always cooked their vegetables, but in the West, apparently it was optional.

"It's only technically a fruit," Gina said, depositing the tomato in Yuyan's palms. "It tastes more like a vegetable. And yes, this is a salad."

Yuyan delicately put the tomato in her mouth, and immediately felt an explosion of sweet-tart juice gush onto her tongue. She chewed for a moment or two, working the flavor in and out of her head and getting used to it.

"It's delicious," she said. "Almost like a...grape?" She'd seen grapes once, when Iseult had gotten some from the south, but such things were rare in Dalriada unless they were dried and shriveled up, and then they were called raisins.

Gina smiled. "Something like that! There are grapes around here somewhere if you want to compare and contrast. Anyway, you cook that down, add water and some meat and spices, and you have tomato sauce. It's really good if it's made right."

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