post palace hot pot party (week 7)

[townmusician]

[Yoon's Palace has faded away, but the fact the God of Conflict decided to show up and intervene again...

Well, that's! Not a good sign! To say the least! But there's nothing to be done about that right now, and Haruka isn't of the mind to really sit and wonder about divine conflicts and grandstanding and all of that, anyways. It's not his problem. The people who deal with that sort of thing on the regular can be in charge of all of that.

What he's in charge of (by virtue of being annoying) is... hot pot. Specifically rounding up everyone and dragging them out to a hot pot restaurant in the city.

He'll miss having money but... he'll just have to work hard to earn it back... Have fun, everyone. (Or maybe he can find a way to charge Mina for this?)]

Comments

[metagame]

Haha. Alright, you convinced me... I'll give it a shot.

[It takes a few tries for him to fish out a piece from the broth to try.

His eyes light up as he chews then swallows.]

Lotus root, eh?

[He picks another piece to get a better look, the lotus tinged a different color from the broth.]

Where I'm from, we used to make this into flour for bread...

[destage]

You did?

[Sayaka seems a little surprised at first, but the more she thinks about it, it makes sense. Lotus root is quite starchy, after all, so drying it out further and grinding it...]

That sounds quite delicious, honestly. I imagine it must've been a little sweeter than most bread you find commonly around here?

[Tell her more!]

[metagame]

[He idly stirs the pot to fish some cabbage out.]

Yes. One of my mothers would often drizzle it in honey and nuts for the other children and me in my father's harem.

[he says plainly, as if everything he said is actually normal]

[destage]

One of your mothers...? Woah, you must've had a very large family, I take it?

[That is almost certainly putting it lightly, but--it'd feel rude to focus on it too much and treat it abnormally. Sayaka sounds impressed, if anything. Even so--]

That sounds absolutely delicious, though--I won't deny that for a moment. It sounds like an absolutely delicious treat for you and everyone there.

Would it...be too terribly forward of me if I asked you about them?

[metagame]

No, not at all.

[Though he's eying her pot to see if there's more cabbage, because he's going to steal some while she's listening. Will he pull it off with a 16..?

(Just some good-natured food theft!)]

Though I don't have much to tell. My birth mother passed away when I was still very young... So my father's other wives took care of me. It meant when I got in trouble I had four times the lecture than just the one. [He laughs.] But for the other children... I had two very dear friends, their names were Mahaad and Mana.

[He's a bit nostalgic!]

[destage]

[Atem does in fact succeed! (4) Sayaka's too distracted and she does indeed have quite a bit of cabbage in her pot. She's very much a vegetable fan, with very little meat in the pot, surprisingly. Still, Sayaka listens with rapt attention, her eyes bright and sparkly.]

It sounds like your family took very good care of you. If you got that many lectures from them, that just means they all loved you dearly, right? Or were you a mischievous kid in your own right?

Maybe got up into some trouble with Mahaad-san and Mana-san?

[Tell her more!!!]

[metagame]

[sable why are you doing this to me

He laughs again.]

No, I'm afraid Mahaad was too much of a stickler for the rules. But Mana? Yes. We had so much fun together. She once made a spell to mock one of the priest's hats...

[He takes a moment to enjoy his ill-gotten cabbage.]

And to be fair, it was a stupid hat.

[destage]

[because sayaka is a curious little beast and wants to know things!!!]

Oh, that sounds absolutely devious! Mana sounds like someone who knows how to have fun--but I can imagine Mahaad must have been a really fun friend to be around, too.

I can only imagine how stupid it must have looked before Mana got her hands on it.

[Sayaka giggles outright, though, brightly.]

[metagame]

She would have loved it here... Sunset City I mean. Not Nekyia.

[Actually maybe Nekyia.

Girl is scrappy, she'd run around bonking the Shadows with her magic wand.]

Enough about me.

What about you..? How about your family?

[destage]

[...

Sayaka's expression falls, briefly, at that, just kind of. Getting a piece of carrot or two to dip in the broth to get herself something to do.]

...I don't really have much family, and the one I am in contact with isn't exactly a topic of conversation for a friendly place. I think.

[metagame]

Say no more.

[He raises his hand, stops. Measures his response.]

If you ever wish to speak about it in private, I'll listen.

[His hand rests back on the table.]

But don't force yourself, okay?

[How about a change of subject?]

You know the bread I mentioned? We had other similar sweets in Egypt... I'm not a culinary expert, but I'm certain modern cake owes itself to us Egyptians.

[destage]

...Thank you.

[The relief that practically floods Sayaka is...good, it's good. Sayaka finds herself smiling, listening intently. Sweets have been one of the few things she's been allowed to be interested in even as an idol, so her interest is definitely piqued.]

I can imagine; it sounds like all of you had things figured out really well, huh? Can you tell me more about them?

[metagame]

Hm... Of course there was the bread I mentioned. And we had candy, too.

[He fidgets with his chopsticks.]

Usually sweetened with honey.