WHO: Tauriel and Presto WHAT: Conversations outside a chocolate shop WHEN: Recently - July 1st WHERE: Just outside a chocolate shop WARNINGS: Low/None STATUS: Closed and completed gdoc
Presto sat on the bench in front of the shop, and a little down the way, and thought. He was concentrating with a part of his mind, on the spell he was working on, and he was also watching people pass. In his lap, in a box, once that had come wit the collection of chocolates he had bought from the store, he was making some culinary magic happen. Presto was hardly a world class chef, or baker, but one thing he had always known how to make was chocolate.
His mom had taught him when he was a very young child as a way of keeping him from being bored one day. And he had never forgotten. Years later, in the realm of Dungeons and Dragons, he had used that knowledge to create chocolate, a substance the world had never seen before. With it, and the help of his friends, he was able to not only buy some influence where they needed it, but also some profit. And he had learned how to make it using his magic, to short circuit part of the process. Once he had learned that, he had learned how to make new kinds of chocolate, and enjoyed it immensely.
Now, here in front of the shop, he had bought some chocolate, and found he was disappointed. So he visited the candy shop next door, and he then sat down and got busy. Inside his box and above it, concealed from view mostly by magic, ingredients melted, mixed, and danced as he made new candy concoctions. He did not mean to draw attention, but since only refugees would be able to see what he was doing, or the glow surrounding him, he was confident that it would be okay.
***
Tauriel didn’t like the town very much, there were not enough trees or natural plants but she knew it was essential to adapt and so she made herself take a walk around most days. She was thankfully now employed teaching others skills which to her came almost naturally. It was something she was learning to enjoy and she relaxed much more around others now than when she had first arrived. Falling back on copying Kili’s easy going manner when she was floundering was something which worked wonders.
As she passed the store fronts she noticed a young man sitting on a bench and working some kind of magic. She watched for a moment before approaching, waiting until he looked up before smiling and asking, “Would you mind if I sat?”
***
“I wouldn’t mind at all.” Presto spoke before he looked up again, finishing a raveling of two kinds of ingredients with one another before taking his eyes off of his concoctions. “Hello, ma’am.” He smiled warmly, his eyes going wide at the sight of her.
The next moment, he bowed his head. In a broken, and not exactly great, and likely somewhat strained offshoot of Elven, one he had learned in the Realm from the moon elf people, he greeted her. “Fair tides and warm skies, child of the forest.”
***
“Hello” she said as she sat, her eyes widening as he spoke in a language not quite her own but one she could understand. “Well met, magic weaver” she replied in her mother tongue, her eyes bright and her face happier. “Where did you learn elvish?” she asked him, intrigued because of the dialect and the fact that he did not appear to be of her world.
***
Presto smiled, because while her tongue was different, and far smoother, freer of the imperfections he knew to be in his, he could understand her, and that meant he hadn’t slaughtered it too badly.
“I met a tribe of your kind, distant, I think, because they had silvery soft skin and blue-silver hair, with almost glowing gemstone color eyes, but the shape and the tilt of the ears and face, as well as the grace with which you move is exactly the same.”
He fell out of Elvish, feeling like he was making a mess of it, and searched his memory. “They called themselves the People of the Moon. Or, ah… and forgive me if I butcher this, but…” and back into Elvish, or at least a badly butchered Elvish word, “Nuroithil?”
He knew he was probably messing that up, and he had no idea, at all, how it was properly spelled.
***
Tauriel didn’t think he’d slaughtered it at all, the fact that he had taken the time to learn a dialect not naturally his own said much about him. And it did not go unappreciated.
“How interesting” she said honestly, smiling when he tried his hand at Elvish again, “People of the Moon” she nodded, repeating the sindarin word properly for him. “You speak well for someone not born to the language” she told him kindly.
***
He listened as she spoke the word and repeated it slowly, trying to get it down. He ducked his head, flushing. “Thank you. At the time, me and my friends were working to try to save their village from being destroyed by Venger, the Force of evil. IN the end,l they saved us as much as we did them, and we learned they actually had a whole hidden city, hidden away.”
He nodded.
“It was amazing to see them and learn about a whole new culture. They were really our first allies there, the first people not either afraid of Venger or unfriendly to us.”
He smiled to her. “My name is Presto.”
***
“It sounds like you met precisely when you needed to” Tauriel said, “I am sure it was much appreciated that you took the time to listen to them and learn about their customs” She knew it was not always the way with others races, but Kili had been the first to show her that not everybody was the same. He had listened to her and conversed with her for many hours, something she would always be grateful for.
“I am Tauriel, it is good fortune that we have met” she smiled at him.
***
“Yeah. They really helped us out, and we helped them. Somehow, it really made a difference, after years in that place, to know we were not alone anymore.” He smiled.
“They were amazing people. I wish they could be brought here, out of that crazy messed up place.” Presto smiled and bowed to her.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Tauriel.” He nodded. His latest candy finished and he smiled, started to put it away, then paused. “Do you like candy?”
***
“It can do wonders to find others, especially after so long alone” Tauriel nodded in understanding, “It is very good of you to think of them now. You have a kind heart”
“I cannot say that I have tried much of it” she replied honestly, “There are many new things here though I have liked many of them”
***
“I find that I do not easily forget anymore, especially those of whom I am fond.” He smiled to her and nodded to her, a subtle way of showing she would be added to that list.
“Then would you care to try some? I am not fond of all I find here, hence me making my own.” He lifted out, his hand cradling it carefully, a single orb of chocolate, the surface a swirl of brown and black. “This is a peanut butter and chocolate mix, but less sweet than most that would be sold here. I favor a more natural mix.”
***
Tauriel smiled and nodded in return, accepting that she was now his friend and confirming her was hers. He had a sense of calm about him that most people here were lacking and Tauriel found it comforting.
“Thank you, I appreciate the offer” she said taking the chocolate from him and trying it. “It is better than what I have tried here before. A much more pleasant taste” she told him honestly, “I think the natural flavors are better, if that is the difference”
***
Presto grinned, and nodded to her. “I think so too. I find I am not used to sugary things, after years without, so I started experimenting on making my own. Maybe someday I will do it as a business.” Maybe. Someday.
“For now, it is a hobby. Something to make my tastebuds not cringe at the taste of so much sugar my brain overloads.”
*** Tauriel smiled, “There is a lot of sweet things here, I believe it is that which does not agree with me either. Elves have a very simple diet of fresh plain food” she explained, she had not quite embraced all of the foods which Kili enjoyed though she did like the abundance of new vegetables which were available in the town.
***
Presto nodded. “I like some richer foods, like pizza, but mostly, I prefer very plain and simple foods as well.” He liked this woman. “You are rather groovy.”
He found himself very glad he had come out today.
***
Tauriel laughed softly, “I am not entirely sure what that means but I believe I should say thank you”
She may not have understood the word but she knew it was kind, after all he was a kind person.
***
“What do you do here in town? To keep time going onward without boredom?”
He was curious, and she seemed a nice person. Why not enjoy her presence?
***
“I have recently begun instructing people in archery at Training Terrain, it is different but I am enjoying it” she told him with a smile, it was something she liked doing. Being active and using her skills.
***
Presto looked and felt interested. “I have no skill in that, but my friend Hank was a ranger, and very good at it. I wouldn’t mind learning the basics. I can hunt with magic or a spear, but have never tried with a bow and arrow.”
He smiled at her. “Maybe I can come by sometime.”
***
“It would be an honor to teach you” Tauriel said brightly, she appreciated those who wanted to learn and she had a feeling Presto would be a fun student to have. “I have the basic healing magic of the elves but nothing more. My skills lay in battle”
***
Presto blushed brightly. “I would be glad to teach you a few tricks. I don’t know if they would work across world lines, but where I came from, a few little things could be learned by anyone. “
He nibbled one lip. “We can learn from each other, as friends often do.” he had just met this person and yet… somehow, he found himself grinning in anticipation.
***
“Thank you, I would be willing to try and grateful for the opportunity” she said happily, perhaps she could settle in this world and find friends as others did. The idea cheered her and made the pang of missing home ease a little.
“I have not had many friends outside of those I was raised with” she admitted, “but I do believe you and I will get along very well”
***
“I think you’re right. I could see being your friend as a very nice thing indeed.”