pyr min solemnly swears he is up to no good (twinclaws) wrote in emillion, |
Ari usually came to parties for the dancing and the wine. Sadly, tonight the wine was off the menu, and the dancing was unlikely to commence for some time. The buffet, though, seemed to make up for all other unfortunate circumstances. She’d wandered along it earlier, trying and failing to identify all of the items upon the tables, but even with her frequent travels, she found herself utterly mystified by some of it. The Ordalian food, though -- that she could recognize. It wasn’t arranged by region, but the assortment of pâté was nothing short of impressive; she was on her fourth cracker and she hadn’t tried nearly all of it. Down the table, however, she spotted a familiar figure near a platter of finger foods. He looked rather dapper in his suit (and was it her imagination, or had he grown?), but by the way he was tugging at his bowtie, it was clear he wasn’t thrilled to be wearing it. She came up behind him to place a hand lightly on his shoulder (the quickest way, she thought, to discern one from the other). “Why, hello there, sir. What a nice surprise to see you here.” Pyr’s reaction to the touch on his shoulder was only to turn around and see who had approached him. When he did, he almost dropped the cracker he was holding. Over the cacophony of holy crap did that just happen in his head he managed an almost-casual, “Hey, Ari. Nice to see you too.” A waiter walked by, and Pyr grabbed a glass of orange juice off the tray and took a sip. Maybe he could just smile and pretend that half-instant where his voice had wavered was due to a dry throat. “Have you tried the food yet?” he asked. “It’s pretty good, and they have lots of it!” Melvin. Easy enough to spot the difference now -- his brother might have attempted to look indifferent (with little success, but he would have tried), but the squire seemed content to be cheerful. Not to mention clearly a bit distracted by her sudden appearance, but then, she was mostly ignoring that until he grew out of it, so for the moment, she didn’t comment. Instead, she said, “Yes, I suppose it would not be a particularly successful fete without a great deal of food; half the people here likely came for the buffet alone. And it is good.” She looked up and down the table, then asked, “Which is your favorite item on the menu thus far? I will make certain try try it on your recommendation, since I couldn’t possibly taste this all.” It was hard to pick just one. After a moment of deliberation, Pyr said, “Try the fried prawns over by the end of this table.” He pointed in that direction, and as he looked over he caught sight of a platter full of delicious-looking chicken wings. “Oooh, hang on.” He moved to get two, and bit into the first with a contented sound. He offered the second to Ari. “You have to try this.” She laughed at his enthusiasm -- not terribly surprising, considering his age -- and took the chicken wing. “With the way you eat,” she told him, “I’ve no doubt you’ll be taller than me in a few months.” Not that it wasn’t satisfying to tower over someone, but it was somewhat less effective when she knew the someone was a child coming into his growth spurt a little late. The chicken was delicious, as expected, though she didn’t recognize the spice. “Good choice,” she complimented. “Shall I take a turn?” Before he could answer, she picked up a cracker, speared it with one of the spreads from the pâté selection. “This is my favorite so far,” she admitted. Duck, yes, but also… apricot, maybe a whiff of cognac. “It tastes almost like home,” she admitted. It didn’t taste at all like home, in Pyr’s opinion—but he supposed he could agree with Ari, since she seemed to like it. “Right,” he said. “Just like home.” |