Shipwreck Light (
shipwreck_light) wrote in
rainbowlounge2012-06-27 09:20 am
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Entry tags:
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.
Re: Roa
Either way, she smiled this sweet and rueful touched sort of way. "I wish I had one to show you! But, there's none in this garden, though I did see some aloai by the peach trees."
Re: Roa
"Aloai? Are those similar to miele?"
Re: Roa
She was so sure she'd seen one nearby. With a gentle pat to the feathered ends of the petals, Roa let the passionflower relax. Sure she had not troubled it too much, she dashed a few cobbles down the path, beckoning for Setsuko to follow.
Which she did. They didn't have to go too far before they passed along another small hedge and into a copse of the flowers Roa remembered.
And there were flowers. Everywhere. Red and gold and white and shocking pink. The evening air was thick with them and butterflies that had come to dance between before heading off to bed.
She brushed some leaves away to read the marker there. "The common name here 'hibiscus'."
Re: Roa
"I-I've never seen such things before," she told Roa. "May--may I see one?"
Re: Roa
For Aloai. Although, it was a spectacular swirl in the path, this place where they had all been left together. It reminded her of so much. The gardens in the jungle. Of taking the anthropologists there, the girls from other islands too. Of the tang in their tea once they were all gone away. And now, she would remember too. Setsuko as she was right then.
Roa plucked her switchblade out and went to the place where the great, big red blossoms lingered together. "I think there's more than enough of these to share," she said as she nipped one off and then another. One she gave to Setsuko. The other she kept for herself and slipped behind her ear.
Re: Roa
"Thank you so much," she said, genuinely touched. She held it in her cupped hands, marveling at the large petals that easily covered her fingers.
Re: Roa
"I'm so happy you like it!" and why then, why hold back the delighted chirp in her voice. "They always made me happy too. And you know, you don't have to miss them when they're gone. You can make tea out of them
Re: Roa
Oh, she was learning so much today! She almost didn't want to leave this place with this wondrous garden and lovely company.
Re: Roa
In fact, the thought of a tall, icy glass had her mouth watering.
And Setsuko seemed genuinely interested.
And speaking of Setsuko, she was probably hot in her robes. Lovely as they were, they couldn't have been designed for summers such as this evening.
"I might be able to get us some. At the very least, there must be something inside you've never tried. So, would you like to join me for tea?"
(OOC: this thread is adorable and you should feel adorable.)
Re: Roa
"I would be happy to," she replied. The heat, if she had to be honest, was beginning to be too much for her--Dalriada was currently in mid-autumn, and here was definitely summer.
(OOC: hee! thank you! I do try.)
Re: Roa
The look she got at Zephyr smooshed up at the bar with some guy she certainly did not know answered that question. Well, at least she wasn't the only one having a good time and Pip certainly wasn't about to be distracted by hair scritches and silly drink orders from her father.
In fact, Pip was really more interested in a bottle of triple sec that just didn't want to open no matter how many times she thumped it on the counter.
Roa dusted off two seats at the bar, offered one to her companion, and gave the stubborn cap a good twist that finally loosened the sugar crystals around the rim. Besides got her a moment to offer Pip a quick recap of events via her fingertips.
"Setsuko, this is Pip. She's the daughter of one of my business associates."
Specifically the one who was making out with someone from a time not his own at the other end of the bar, but moving on.
"Also, my apprentice and tonight's bartender."
Pip grinned. "Nice ta meetcha."
Re: Roa
And then there was the girl serving their drinks--ordinary enough but for the silver lines running up and down her bare arms.
She bowed her head in greeting. "The pleasure is mine."
Re: Roa
Well, not that Roa particularly minded that courtier being himself, but she did understand this skill to be somewhat unusual in the city at large, valuable when it did surface, and currently leading her to wonder if strapping Setsuko to her back would result in both of them landing back at the manor or both of them ending up in Setsuko's universe.
In the mean time and matters which did not concern straps of any kind, Pip returned the bow with a curtsy of her own, despite her boisterous greeting otherwise.
"You haven't seen any hibiscus tea back there, have you?" Roa asked, gesturing towards the back room of the bar.
"Sure have. I think. Sorta. Cold kind, definitely. Hot kind, 'm prettty sure."
"Can you bring both if you have them?"
And not even an answer to that. Pip had gone in a flash, albeit one shouting: "Heeeeeeeeeeeeere tasty flowers."
Re: Roa
"What did she mean by 'cold kind'?" she asked Roa. "I was under the impression that all tea was hot."
Re: Roa
Cold tea had to be on that certain gourmet level of disconcerting to someone who had never heard of such a thing. Like vanilla shrimp or gazpacho. Although, that did raise some questions beyond those things.
"But, you don't have to drink it if you don't care for it. And if there's anything else you'd like that you don't have."
Re: Roa
Certainly, the idea of cold tea was...new, and strange, especially since in Huaxia and Yashima tea was hot by definition. In Dalriada ale was traditionally cool or lukewarm, and wine could be any temperature.
"Oh, I'd be happy to try some," she told Roa. "The concept's just very new to me, that's all. Everything here is, come to think of it."
Re: Roa
So, what she said next, she meant. "I only came here a few months ago myself. I know it can be a bit much to get used to, but it's exciting too and in the end you never know who you'll meet that makes all of that excitement worth it."
Her fingers strayed down her cheek and she came to do then as they did in the city- lean against the bar, resting on her palm. Not the first time, but it was really more comfortable than it looked. "Is it summer in ajisai -land too?"
Re: Roa
Maybe it would be the same here too, with someone as welcoming as Roa.
"I believe it would be autumn, actually," she replied. "There's no ajisai, but there would be chrysanthemums blooming everywhere, and possibly a great full moon."
Re: Roa
It really, honestly did. Especially the moon part- that much seemed to have shrunk against the city and she missed it, the giant pearl way it used to drift somewhere over the crystal black water.
In the moment more she spent with her interpretation of Setusko's autumn, Pip came rattling back, tray held over her head.
"OK, we had all kindsa stuff, so I brought everythin."
"You..." the tray was dangerously close to overflowing with goodies it turned out. "...certainly did."
"OK, so the lil tumblers, that's aqua fresca, the kind that's cold. Teapot's gotta minute left. Ish just straight up hibiscus this time, but we got some with black tea too. Stuff in the dish's somea the dried calyx thingers."
They sort of reminded Roa of very tiny octopuses.
"An hibiscus cocktails."
Consisting of two flutes that smelled of roses and bubbled golden from the feathery red swirling off the bottom.
(OOC: http://www.thehungrymouse.com/2009/07/22/blooming-champagne-cocktail-with-wild-hibiscus/ they're supposed to have lime and rose water in them too.)
Re: Roa
Just then, Pip returned with a tray that threatened to topple over in her hands, it was so full of drinks. There was a dish of what looked like dried flowers, two glasses of liquid the same brilliant red as the hibiscus flower itself.
But the cocktails were what Setsuko found mesmerizing, perhaps more than the tea: presented in those impossibly delicate-looking goblets, a hibiscus bloomed from the bottom of each, sunk in a most curious golden bubbling concoction.
She reached out, finding the glass sturdier than she'd originally thought, inspecting one for a closer look. It smelled delightfully of roses, lime, and something else she couldn't quite place.
"It's--it's beautiful," she said.
Re: Roa
"They are, aren't they?"
Setsuko's calm delight reminded her how much that first one had thrilled her. It made the one she had now seem wondrous all over again.
"But, they're delicious too. Or, I think so. Whatever you think, I hope it makes you happy too."
"Magine we could take her to Solstice~," Pip half-whispered. "That's a part. Ish even bigger en the ones they have here."
Re: Roa
"It's wonderful!" she exclaimed. Unusual, because of its coldness, but somehow the taste was sharper and brighter on the tongue because of it. "Thank you both for introducing it to me."
Re: Roa
"Oh, thank you for letting us," said Roa, fingers against the flower in her hair. "Ah, but there's something..."
And she'd only just thought of it herself, that little chime thing people in the city did with their drinks.
To this, she took up her own glass and tapped it against Setsuko's before she drank herself. "Cheers."
"Bsides," Pip added with a giggle. "Now, you're gonna tell us about whatcha usually drink, right?"
"If you're so inclined," Roa added. "I don't think Pip's the only one who's curious."
Re: Roa
"Well," she replied. "Back in Yashima--my country--we drink tea, as I've said, but there's also wine, made from rice, usually. There's a kind we make in the summer from unripe plums, although I find that somewhat sweet for my liking. And in Huaxia, there's much of the same, although there was a dark spicy cinnamon tea that was supposed to be good for colds."
"Where I am now, in Dalriada, they mainly drink weak ale, although there are, of course, a large variety of wines made from all sorts of fruit."