aterat | It's a Watts party! (Just don't tell him)

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It's a Watts party! (Just don't tell him)

Who; Aerith + YOU
What; Potluck party
Where; Gray building's downstairs common room
When; Sunday June 26th; after 4pm
Warnings; None

Aerith co-opted the common room of the gray building starting on Saturday when she began the process of decoration. The most important part of any decoration (especially for Watts) was the flowers and Aerith had put together a few center pieces for tables. Each flower that she'd chosen had symbolized friendship in some way and they were set up in the center of small tables that had been brought inside. Of course she wasn't the one that moved those tables, she had a trust bodyguard for things like that, but she did the decorating!

And the cooking! The main attraction was a pretzel bar in the center of the room. Please, thank Cloud for bringing it in and Jacob for making the pretzel rack at Aerith's request. The soft pretzels were premade and there were plenty for everyone who may come through to have several (if not more). In addition to that there were also several dipping sauces to choose from including cheese, caramel, cinnamon sugar, honey mustard, and a spicy ginger sauce with chili flakes (eat at your own risk).

A table next to it had Materia Xiaolongbao. Yellow is crab flavor, black is soybean, blue is pork, green is cilantro, and red is spicy shrimp. Next to those are tiny moogle sweet bean buns. They fit in the palm of your hand but some of the moogles look...a lot better than others. She did her best!

There was another table with a few drinks set up for people to grab including a materia bomb cocktail with a bit of alcohol and different flavored materia ice (peach, strawberry, and blueberry) and bright green bubble tea with pop bubbles in the bottom. The green tea is flavored like something very different than one might expect it to be, it's a bit bit bitter and yet also a bit sharp, almost biting. It's meant to be the flavor of wind, whatever that's supposed to be. The pop bubbles are extremely sour and explode in the mouth with the sourness. The drink is also somehow fizzy, don't ask how.

A third table was empty save for the friendship bouquet at it's center. There was a little handwritten note on the table saying:

Leave your dishes here! Complete with a heart.

Aerith herself can be found wandering around and paying close attention to the drink table, making sure to run back to the kitchen quickly to grab more drinks if they run low.

OOC: Feel free to use this log as an open thing for anyone to mingle and get to know each other. Characters are welcome even if they didn't bring a dish themselves, but the more dishes the better! Anyone is welcome to come even if they didn't know she was throwing this party, it'd be pretty obvious that there was something going on in the Gray Building and she'll be leaving the door open with a small table that has a friendship flower bouquet on it. Please have some fun!

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The young Princess had made sure to not only prepare a collection of delicious dishes for the days event but to dress appropriately for a social gathering. It had cost a bit of money but she felt more comfortable in the dress than she had in the shorts that she'd been given at the orphanage. Her boots didn't match the light flowy summer dress but they were well worn and comfortably fit her feet.

In her arms was a cumbersome basket filled with the various baked goods that she'd baked early that morning, each with its own label to identify the type and flavor of the bread. The first bread she pulled out of her basket was a rustic fruit and nut wheat bread with dried cranberries, currants, apricots, walnuts, and almonds with a side of handmade cinnamon honey butter placed at its size. The second bread was a simple twisted sweet bread. Finally the basket was placed on the table with the remaining collection of turtle shaped white bread with chocolate eyes.

Once her bread and their labels were set in place the young princess found a comfortable chair to sit. She rested her pad of writing paper across her lap and watched the gathering people. Luna didn't speak or seek anyone out but began to slowly braid her long hair while watching the other party goers try the various treats and talk amongst themselves.

Edited 2022-06-27 14:45 (UTC)

The fact that this little party was being held in his once-home by Aerith, and she had not specified who the party was for, meant that Mono had arrived with Ignis, wanting to help bring stuff from the house to the gray building. The boy was hoping to see some friends, of course, and to try all the interesting food that might be there. He had developed a particular love for the things that could be discovered from other worlds, especially when the foods in them all seemed to taste so good! It was miles better than anything he was used to before.

But it didn’t take him long to break away from Ignis once he saw a familiar figuring sitting on a chair next to what seemed like an amazing amount of baked breads. “Oi! Luna!” He called out in a raised whispery tone, reserved first for Six and now for Luna as well. Something quieter, but enough to get the attention of a fellow-quiet friend.

She was dressed up so fancy, too! Just like the princesses out of story books, which was only fitting, the boy supposed. At least he’d been convinced to wear some of the nicer things Ignis and Nida had commissioned for him, instead of his usual ratty old trench coat (even if it was one of his comfort pieces). So he didn’t look quite like the vagrant gremlin child he usually did.

Luna's eyes rose to meet Mono's gaze and she smiled. She hadn't know who would attend the party ane it was a pleasant surprise to see Mono walking towards her. He was many things to her: teacher, knight, friend and confidant. But ,more than all of that, he was the only friend she'd made that was her own age. Even at the castle, she had her brother but there hadn't been anyone else her age.

She lifted her hand in a wave before writing down on the pad of paper sitting on her lap. Luna had several sizes of paper and while this one was larger, the one that she usually carried when hanging out with Mono fit in a pocket. It was easier to run around when she wasn't lugging around such a large pad of paper.

'Welcome Mono. It is good to see you. Did you bring something?'

Mono carefully dragged another chair over next to the one Luna was sitting on before pulling himself up to sit on it next to her. Reading over the paper carefully, the boy had to shake his head a little. “No, I dunno how to make food and stuff. I helped Ignis bring the stuff he made from home, though.” He responded with a tiny shrug of his shoulders. He had liked being able to help with that much, at least. It made it feel like he had at least contributed in his own way to the whole ‘potluck’ thing. Not that he knew why they called it a potluck. It was a funny word.

“Did you bring stuff?” He asked, wondering if that was why she had asked him, and what she might have brought if she had. Mono would undoubtedly be quite impressed when he found out that all the baked breads on the table next to them had been made by her.

Luna bobbed her head in an excited nod before rising from her seat and grabbing Mono's hand to pull him back towards the table of food. She'd left her notebook on the chair she'd been occupying but wasn't worried since Mono was with her.

She pointed to the fruit bread, the sweet bread, and the turtle-shaped bread before pointing back at her chest. It wasn't a lot but she was very proud of what she had made and she wanted Mono to try it.

Hopefully, he'd like it.

She might have thought it wasn’t a lot, but it certainly was to Mono. The boy’s eyes lit up as he took in the sight. “Wow… You made all this?” He asked, arms spreading wide in a motion to suggest there was quite a lot more than he expected. Before his eyes fell on the turtle bread in particular. “Hey these look just like those turtle things at the park!” He beamed, having taken quite a liking to turtles after going to the park a few times. He liked to watch them sometimes when they were in the water. They seemed more chill than frogs.

Reaching out, he took one to get a better look at it, and to try. “They smell really good, fresh bread stuffs always smells really good though.” He added quickly, before trying to decide where to start eating it. That was the thing about bread that looked like stuff. It was so cute that it was hard to not feel a little bad… But he decided to bite into the side of the ‘shell/body’ part. A bright sound escaping him, “Yum!” The boy mumbled, turning back to her eagerly. “It tastes like it smells! Really good!”

Luna smiled when he noticed the turtle shape and nodded to let him know that he was right!

It had been because of Mono that she'd made the bread in a turtle shape though he might notice that the bread looked less turtle-like when diving further into the basket. Only the top layer of buns looked like turtles but she hadn't had the heart to throw away perfectly tasty bread.

She returned to her seat to grab the pad of paper and wrote for Mono to read. 'I am glad you like them! I'll learn to make more breads and bring them to you!' She wanted to find a place aside from the orphanage to bake the bread but once she does she'll be happy to experiment and make delicious breads for Mono.

'Are there flavors you like?'

Luckily, Mono’s views on her ability to make delicious turtle shaped bread weren’t going to be dampened by a few less turtle-like ones. He was honestly too absorbed in admiring the one he’d taken while he ate it. It was just so cute, and he had never seen anyone make something like it before. Not even Ignis had made something like this! So between that, and the fact that Luna had made it? It was very special in his opinion.

“Really?” He asked quietly as she write down that she was going to learn how to make more for him to try. That was really nice of her, and kind of exciting to think that maybe there were more kinds he hadn’t had! Which, unsurprisingly, tied into her next question that he noticed when he glanced back at the paper as he finished off the turtle bread.

“Um…” He tilted his little head, as only one thing came to mind immediately. “I like stuff with apples?” He started, trying to think if there were other flavours he liked more than others, his shoulders finally shrugging a bit awkwardly. “I’m still kinda figuring out what I like best aside from apples… There wasn’t really a lot of food that wasn’t mostly bad where I came from, so all this kinda stuff is new to me.” And being surrounded by not-rotten food was an experience, and when you had grown up not being picky, you didn’t tend to think much about what you liked best.

'I will make apple bread for you.'

She would make any type of bread that he liked but she'd also be happy to guess and try to create something just for him. Luna wanted to give Mono special things for being such a brave knight and she remembered reading that ladies often gave favors to knights that protected their honor.

She wasn't entirely sure what it meant but bread was like a favor? Right?

'I like making bread.' It was similar to her songs. It was a way for her to express herself when her voice remained silent.

“I didn’t even know there was apple bread!” He responded with a slightly excited, slightly awed tone. Considering how good the turtle bread was, he was sure that apple bread would be really good too. He didn’t know much about the idea of ladies giving favors to knights who protected them, and the child would continue to protect her regardless… She deserved to be protected, and with all the bad things he knew she’d been through, and what he knew could happen to kids like them? He didn’t want to take any chances of losing her like he lost his other friend.

But it was also nice to learn about what Luna liked to do. It was so different from what Six liked to do, after all… Or, well… he supposed he and Six both didn’t really know what they liked to do, so much as what they had to do. At least with Luna and a few other people around, he was starting to figure those things out.

He nodded finally at her explanation. “You’re really good at it! I don’t think I ever saw bead shaped like animals before, either.” And he couldn’t help but tilt his head slightly, as the subject of what she liked to do had him curious. “What other kinda stuff do you like to do, Luna?” Maybe he could make sure they could do stuff like that, since he didn’t know how to bake or play music… Because he was pretty sure that jumping on an oversized piano did not count as playing music.

The great thing about bread was that you could put anything in it. It didn't matter if it was sweet or savory, all the flavors worked and even if the texture sometimes didn't turn out right it always tasted amazing.

Luna settled back into her seat with her note pad on her lap. Mono's question was curious. She learned how to play music, dance and paint because she had too. It was expected of her from a young age and some noble children started even younger than Sole and Luna had. Baking was the first thing she did because she wanted too.

After thinking about it, Luna began to write. 'I know how to do a lot of things. I do not like them all. I do like to paint and see pretty things in the forest. I want to collect flowers and keep them forever but I don't know how. I think I like reading but it's hard sometimes. It'd rather someone tell me a story.'

She looked up and then added her own question.

'What about you?'

Mono read over what she was writing slowly, perhaps a little more slowly than her since sometimes (as she said) reading was hard. That kind of made sense, though. There was a lot of stuff he did that he didn’t necessarily do because he enjoyed, so much as he had do to it. The problem was, most things Mono did were things he had to do instead of things for fun. So her question, natural as it was to ask it in return, left the boy a little quiet for a moment as he tried to think of an answer… At least one of the things she said was kind of like something he did like now that he was in this world. “I dunno much stuff for fun, I guess… But I kinda like going to the park and forest to look at the neat stuff that lives there? Like watching the frogs and little fishes in the ponds.” At a distance, of course, not wanting to disturb them since he could never be sure if his presence would be upsetting for them in some way. Also, the boy tended to avoid birds, like ravens and crows, because he had some bad experiences with them. “I like climbing too, even if that’s more something I gotta do. It’s more fun now that I’m better at it sometimes.”

Rubbing some crumbs off his cheeks while he tried to think of other things that hopefully didn’t sound weird, Mono remembered another thing he had discovered here. “Someone taught me to play some games and stuff kids play here a while back? Like hopscotch.” Which wasn’t as scary in this world as it was in his, since apparently the porcelain bullies were playing that game wrong.

Luna listened politely watching Mono's features while listening to his words. It bothered her that he didn't know exactly what he liked but perhaps that was common. Children were young and learning, they had to try many things to find the things they liked the most.

She began to write more before he finished pausing at the end to add more to the script. The writing was neat when she turned it towards Mono to read but the last few lines were smaller and stuffed onto the page as an after thought.

'Let's try thing together. We can both find things that we like!'

'What is hopscotch? Can you teach me these games?'

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Rhy had of course attended. Food, community, and possible laughter? Yes, he was absolutely there. What he wasn't truly expecting was to see the little one. Rhy, with his plate covered with little morsels of bread and stuffed buns of food, immediately peeled off of another conversation when he saw her and went to approach her.

"Good day, my little princess," he said, with a careful and exquisitely executed bow. Another might think he was playing, but in his mind he was according her the respect she deserved. "I was not expecting you here. I am happy to see you are well."

Luna's features brightened into a warm smile as the familiar voice and features pulled her attention from the room at large. She met his gaze but quickly broke the eye contact to write on the pad of paper that she had placed on her lap. Her penmanship was neat and she wrote quicker now that she has daily practice.

'It is good to see you as well. Are you enjoying the party?' Her eyes dropped to his plate where she saw the familiar pieces of the bread that she had baked. She wrote again, beneath her initial greeting.

'Do you like the bread?' He was one of the few people who knew that she enjoyed baking and while she wasn't comfortable baking in the orphanage, she had done so for the party today. After all, it was her first introduction to Aterat's society.

"I am," he agreed and moved to sit next to her. Though that it was her bread had him smiling. "This bread? It's a delight. I would serve it as morsels at balls if I could. Especially the one with the fruit and nuts. It would be a good restorative that you could have little bites of to strengthen you for more dancing!"

He knew she baked, but this was a true wonder. "Perhaps you might consider teaching me some time? My husband and I, we are slowly learning to cook, it isn't something we've much experience with."

She turned over the page as she nodded her head in a happy nod. It took her a bit longer to write and when she was finished, the text was small enough to fit on to a single page. It was lucky that Rhy had taken the seat next to her, allowing her to tilt the paper towards him to read the neat script.

'I would be happy to teach you. I learned from the wife of the palace chief. He had saved Sole and I, and we were staying there before I was brought here. I already lost my voice by then. Due to the fact that I couldn't speak, it was hard to talk and paper was too expensive. Baking allowed us to communicate and she said I had a talent for it.'

She only knew a few recipes from memory but Luna could read well enough to follow a cookbook.

That was a beautiful story, honestly, and Rhy was happy to hear it. It would make things a wonder in the house, and smelling like fresh bread... Oh, he could even have fresh bread with pasta!

"You would be welcome to visit our house to teach me. It's very nice. Llewellyn and I have been doing our best to make it our comfortable little sanctuary."

The paper turned over and Luna began to write again. 'Will you show me where you live?' She had visited once but she couldn't remember the way. It had been raining that day and Llewellyn had walked Luna back to the orphanage after the storm had passed.

'What do you want to bake first? Do we need to go shopping?'

She wondered if it was okay to make a mess in Rhy's kitchen. Luna could cook but she wasn't very neat about it.

"Of course I will, little princess. You're always going to be welcome there. And I'll happily shop for all you need. I would love more sweetbreads."

These ones with fruit and nuts are a delight after all.

She wrote on the paper and this time held it up for him to see. 'Do you like cinnamon or chocolate? I know some bread with those too.' They were two different recipes and while that was the limit of Luna's baking knowledge, it was impressive enough.

Importantly, she wanted to make flavors that Rhy and Llewellyn liked best.

Oh that's a very good question.

"Cinnamon is lovely. Chocolate is also good but that I'm familiar with already. It's common here. Cinnamon in thing is less common from my experience."

Though really the two of them would take just about anything.

Luna grinned warmly. 'I like cinnamon. It is tasty and is delicious with butter too.' She'd have to find the ingredients but she didn't think that was too difficult. She remembered seeing cinnamon sticks at the market. All she had to do was ground it down.

'When would you like to bake?'

"When would you, my princess?" Rhy asked. He'd make this as convenient for her as he could. "Though weekends are very good."

Because he doesn't work on those.

Luna thought about the things that she wanted to do and as long as the sun was awake, she was able to do them. She met with Mono frequently but those lessons changed from week to week depending on the young boy's work.

After a brief pause, Luna replied. 'The weekends are good. I should be back at the orphanage before dark.' She paused and then added. 'It's frightening walking in the dark.'

It's a Watts party! (Just don't tell him)

Princess Luna - Open

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Little Princess!

Ek! It's her favorite King!

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/wrap up soon?

indeed