The Villa Is Open

[shipwreck_light]

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.

Comments

[isana]

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."

[bookblather]

"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."

[isana]

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.

[bookblather]

"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."

[isana]

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.

[bookblather]

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."

[isana]

Yuyan held up a hand in an excusing gesture, and then daintily reached down for another tomato in the salad before popping it into her mouth. "Yes," she said. "I can see why that would be good. Back in my country, we have a root that can be used in desserts, but in savory dishes too. Can you make sweets with a tomato? Maybe it's like that."

[bookblather]

"Um." Gina wrinkled her nose. "I'm not sure, honestly. I think there's something they make in Japan, with tomatoes, but my grandmother never made anything sweet with tomatoes. Just the savoury."

[isana]

"Oh. So a fruit that's used like a vegetable," she said. "I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but where is Japan?"

"My mother sometimes stir-fries the root--we call it yu-tou in my country, but it's really good when fried and then dipped in syrup."

[bookblather]

"Mmm," Gina said. "That does sound good! And don't worry, I like answering questions. Japan is... it's about the other side of the world from where I live. An archipelago-- a series of islands off the coast of another continent."

[isana]

"That's far!" Yuyan exclaimed. "Where are you from? And do you know what Japan is like?"

[bookblather]

"It is," Gina said, seriously. "I'm from New York City, myself... that's a big city in a state called New York." Obviously. But Yuyan wasn't from there. "I... I don't know much. I've never been out of the country, so all I know I learned from books."

[isana]

"New...York." That sounded familiar, somehow, but Yuyan didn't know why. "Well, I've asked you a lot of questions. Tell me what you've learned from Japan-in-books, and then tell me about New York!"

[bookblather]

Gina laughed, and said, "Well, we'll have to sit down if I'm going to tell you that much. And I warn you, it isn't a lot. About Japan, anyway." New York she'd lived in all her life. New York she could do.

[isana]

"We can sit down. I should have asked you that before, probably. You must be tired," Yuyan said, gesturing to Gina's pregnant belly. "Do you want me to get you anything to eat or drink?"

[bookblather]

"No thank you," Gina said, smiling at the thought. So many people willing to fuss over her! It could be aggrivating, but coming from everyone today, it was just thoughtful. She liked people like that. "I'm fine, but I would like to sit down for sure."

Stupid ankles.

She headed for the squashy comfortable couch, and settled back into it with a happy sigh.

[isana]

Seeing that Gina looked comfortable enough on the impossibly soft couch, Yuyan sat down as well. "If you do need anything, let me know? I don't know all the foods on that table, but I'll try my best!"

[bookblather]

"I will, don't worry." What a sweet kid! She hoped Leah turned out to be half as sweet. "So. Japan. Anything in particular you want to know?"

[isana]

"Hmm." Yuyan had to think about it, because there were so many questions. "What are the people like?" she asked.

[bookblather]

Gina had to think about that one for a moment. "Well," she said, slowly, "keeping in mind that I've never met anyone from Japan, they're... very polite, and they keep things to themselves more than Americans do. Politeness is very important. Well, I mean, it is for everyone, but it's especially important for them."

[isana]

"Hmm," Yuyan said. "That sounds very similar to my country--Huaxia--though I wouldn't know for sure. How are...Americans different?"

Gina was certainly from a different world--Yuyan had never heard of "Japan" or "New York" before, although Gina certainly looked like she wouldn't be out of place in Dalriada...

[bookblather]

"They're much noisier," Gina said, immediately. "And much ruder, at least initially. A lot of them seem to have no sense of boundaries. You wouldn't believe how many people have tried to touch my belly since I started showing, and all of them perfect strangers."

[isana]

"...oh." Yuyan looked down at her lap, blushing. "That happens in my village sometimes, too, but everyone knows each other, so maybe that's different? I wouldn't really touch anyone without their say-so, but it's all right for me. At least now, it is." Now that she had control of her clairvoyance, people could touch her as they pleased for the most part. It was when she was sick or very tired that the visions sometimes crept through.

[bookblather]

"It's... it is different when you know them," Gina said. "Then it isn't a total stranger reaching for you with no notice. I do prefer people to ask first, though. It's my body, and I decide who can touch it."

She cocked her head. "What do you mean, now it is?"

[isana]

"I, I suppose it is," Yuyan said. "I've only been to a big city once, so..."

Oh, dear. She hadn't meant to let that slip. "I...I...well," she bit her lip, looking for a way to explain properly. "I have this...power? Ability? I can see the past and future, and if I know someone I can see where they are even if I'm not with them. And when I was little, I had to wear gloves, because whenever I touched something or someone, I'd get visions, like their memories. It's much better now, though. I only see the memories if I want to, and that's only if the person lets me."

Yuyan sat on her hands, suddenly very self-conscious.