#angea

[ SWEET BUN TRIO ] - Three delicious, bite-sized buns from Faerghus. The first bun is filled with sweet cream and topped with icing and a candied cherry. The second is a sweet roll filled with almonds, pecans, and dried cranberries and glazed with honey. The third is a bun sliced in half, filled with almond paste and whipped cream, dusted with powdered sugar on top.

Lana looks over the buns ravenously, stewing over which one to try first, when she notices Nanna's presence. " Lady Nanna? It's wonderful to see you again. You look radiant, if you don't mind me saying so! " She glances back down at the desserts, pointing them out. " Do you like sweets, my lady? I was trying to decide which one to start with, but they all look so good... Would you like to decide one for me and share? "

“.......Lana?” Delight softened Nanna’s features almost instantly, bright and warm as candlelight caught in glass. “Goodness, it has been some time...! Hahaha, oh, how I've missed you!” Her gaze lingered fondly upon her for a heartbeat longer before lowering obediently toward the sweets in question—and then, quite unfortunately, she understood Lana’s dilemma entirely.

The desserts sat beneath the ballroom lights with almost theatrical decadence, each more inviting than the last. Sugared glaze shimmered like lacquer. Honey caught gold in its folds. Powdered sugar rested atop cream as delicately as fresh snowfall.

“...Oh dear,” Nanna murmured, hands folding lightly before her. “You have chosen a very risky assortment.”

The first earned an immediate smile, the little cherry perched atop it almost too charming to disturb. The second looked heartier somehow, honey glistening warmly over almonds and fruit like something meant to be enjoyed beside a fire. But the third—

Nanna leaned just slightly closer to inspect the powdered sugar dusting the cream-filled bun, and something in her expression softened into unmistakable temptation.

“…I think,” she began carefully, as though speaking too quickly might reveal favoritism, “that this one may be impossible to ignore.” She pointed delicately toward the almond paste and whipped cream bun. “There is something terribly unfair about powdered sugar at a ball. It makes everything feel softer than it truly is.”

A quiet laugh escaped her then, gentler than teasing, as though she were amused by her own susceptibility.

“But if we are sharing, perhaps that makes the choice easier.” She glanced back toward Lana with a small tilt of her head, warmth gathering easily in her smile. “One sweet thing split between two people somehow becomes less dangerous, doesn’t it?”

Though even as she said it, the glimmer in her eyes betrayed that she did not believe that for a moment.

" I've never seen a dessert like this before... It does look good, though. " Lana turns to her current company, a red-headed girl who happened to stand beside her. " Um, excuse me... A bit earlier, I saw a few upperclassmen trying to drink the syrup by itself. I can't help but want to try it. Will you try with me? I'd feel a bit silly by myself. We can exchange flowers to commemorate the learning experience, if you'd like! "

Her chin rests on the knuckles of her index finger as Maria looks upon the shaved ice in deep, surely profound thought. For as often as she ferries sweet little treats to friends new and old, she tries to make a game of finding something fun about the meeting or the flavors. Yet the later the hour grows, the more hard-pressed she is to come up with something. Maybe if she starts combining flavors…?

“Oh! Hee hee… hi there!” Her fingers splay and wiggle, knuckles still pressed against her chin. “Wait, they drank the syrup by itself?” Maria blinks once, twice, taken aback by the information. If it’s the same as the syrup she sometimes uses to bake… then isn’t that super sweet?

Oh, but it would be terrible of her to ruin the fun, wouldn’t it? The adventure isn’t in knowing the answer, but finding it — and this girl has asked her on an adventure of sorts, hasn’t she?

“Okay! Let’s do this together! Should we pick our favorite flavors?” Already, she turns the point of her finger toward the bottles at their disposal, bouncing daintily between their caps. Strawberry, apple, raspberry, pear — oh, she does like a good lemon, but maybe not that one… “Oh! And do you want to do a big sip? Or a little one?”

The little cleric hums as she pours just a splash of syrup into both of their cups.

“Cheers!” And, without a beat of hesitation, she downs a slosh of strawberry. At once her free hand flies to her lips, cinched and pulled hard to one side, drawn tighter the faster she blinks. It’s not bad, but— “—woah! That was intense, huh? What’d you think?

“My name is Maria, by the way!” She trades her red glass for a red rose, holding it out to the girl. “Here, a flower for a new friend! Hee hee… it matches our teeth, don’t you think?” At that she bursts into laughter and flashes a grin — not one made of pearly whites, but of stained pinks.

@angea - you  are  justifiably  angry,  you  had  to  make  a  terrible  sacrifice. for laisk'aims! \ 𝜗𝜚 ⠀𝗕𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗢𝗙 𝗠𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗨𝗠𝗕   ﹔ hero and villain

( ✹ ☽ )    WERE THEY ANGRY   ?   it was hard to tell when the whispers and goading to continue bathing in the blood that their sacrifice had just created was so   inviting and intoxicating.

(    YOU'VE TRIED TO   suppress the urges but they merely come back to you    stronger and stronger.   what's the use in   trying   when you can simply let go and bathe yourself in   blood   to continue that smile that's creeping on your lips   )

    ❛   I   ..   DIDN'T WANT   this   ,   ❜   whispered sharply   ,   desperate for none to wake up beside the one who'd already caught them after the act   ---   alfira had done nothing wrong but trust them.   ❛   ANGER ISN'T   ..   I   do not know what i feel.   disgust with the blood on my hands   ?  ..  i didn't even realize it was happening until when my hands were already in her   guts.   ❜