#starrook

𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐃 ♡ 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐄 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐘 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒

●●●○○ | ATTRACTION ●●●○○ | AFFECTION ●●●●○ | INTEREST ●●●●○ | LOYALTY ●●●●○ | TRUST

* Judgmental stare *

thots? | accepting!

○○○○○ | ATTRACTION ●●○○○ | AFFECTION ●●●●○ | INTEREST ●●●●● | LOYALTY ●●●●● | TRUST

"It's still hard to feel completely comfortable around him. None of what he did was out of line, I definitely was expecting worse, but...well, I'm trying. He said himself that he wants me to be more myself but...we'll see how that actually goes when it happens I guess."

"I am glad he is the way he is though. Diamant needs someone like that at his side. And Lapis loves him, so I guess he can't be all bad."

Alcryst normally does all he can to avoid contact with Marni. That doesn't change tonight. But he still watches from a distance as she picks through a table of sweets, waiting to see if she puts poison in one of them.

Brodia's sniveling wretch of a second prince is watching her. Why? What does he want? What could possibly be his issue with her? Well, his issue with her currently. She's done a lot of things to him and the people around him, but it's not like she's done anything to him recently.

By all accounts, she's been as well behaved as a dead rat.

Is he just going to stand there and watch her pull off the fruit ruining some perfectly good sweet buns until she goes away? Why? It's not like it's against the rules or anything. He's the weird one for staring her down over it. Does he think it's less weird if he does it from a distance? It's not. It's still weird.

"These are fairly good options for those mindful of their budget."

Céline surveys the offered selection of teas thoughtfully, having already sampled each blend after arriving at the monastery. Of course, some teas tasted better than others. And some were obviously higher in quality...

But there wasn't anything necessarily wrong with simple.

(Alas, she did wish these were loose leaf rather than tea bags, though.)

"You know, I learned to make an herbal tea from Lapis once, using simple foraging ingredients." She giggles, "It had a rather unique taste, but was no less delightful than the high-end blends I've had."

Because it had been a taste of Lapis's culture, and her experience. Experiences that Céline wished to better understand, as one meant to protect the common people.

"Mm. But I would love to have some of those leaves from the Brodian highlands again. Remember? The ones you gave me to aid in my sleep."

(Alcryst knows what lilies, roses, tulips are, but he did not know what orchids were until tonight, and he still thinks the hyacinths are bluebells.)

"...well, no. it's in the name. they look like hanging bells."

to prove her point, dorothea retrieves a hyacinth that's been cast aside in a pile of rejects — its azure petals slightly crushed, likely deemed unacceptable to gift anyone — and holds it the way a salesperson would. dramatically close to her face, used as a prop she poses beside with a grand "ta-da" gesture to point out the structure.

"obviously not the case here. see? it's more like a cluster of stars... unless you're saying the stars in brodia are bell-shaped."

(Alcryst passes on Maria's knowledge of cheesy popcorn to Mauvier, but he also tries to make his own seasoning mix. His popcorn has a bright orange hue, flavored with a mix of paprika, ground mustard, and some melted butter. It brings a bold Brodian flavor to popcorn, sweet and sharp and smoky. "Should I add garlic?")

Mauvier tends to keep his food on the bland side, and whatever flavors he does add are usually somewhere on the spicy spectrum. He's tried to be bolder in all aspects lately, and that may as well extend to what he eats.

"My thanks, Prince Alcryst." Mauvier plucks a single kernel of popcorn from the offered bag, brightly colored like a poisonous frog. It tastes...well, rather wonderful, though his tongue is simply overloaded with sensation. Enough that he struggles not to drool all over himself - how completely mortifying.

("I know potential when I see it." The talent scout is doing everything he can to convince these two to sign on as models for a romantic fantasy book series, the start of what's supposed to be an incredibly lucrative modeling career. "Young brooding men are all the rage these days.")

"—As I have said time and time again to the point that my very mouth tires. I've no interest in taking part in your inane creation. Beplague some other poor fool."

"C'mon~ don't say that! You and your friend would be perfect as the love interests in our series. And that pompous speech of yours! Love it, love it—an act, right? You could have fooled me into thinking you actually talk like that."

"Why, you. . ."

Curious, was it not? How the proud Rafal might shirk the chance to monopolize a form of spotlight, to be idealized and admired, to be positioned as the object of desire within a third and promising new world never before explored - primed for his conquest. And yet, there was a sensitive distinction; a totally fixed criterion. Pride for the dragon was to be found only in worthy pursuits. There was nothing to puff one's chest about appearing in an unskilled work of fantasy. Nothing of worth at all.

Then there was Alcryst.