avante en garde - SATURDAY NOON PST

[idolpro]

[ The bar is unit-colored with light unit paraphernalia, although it's all just for show. Fortunately, comfort isn't part of the unit aesthetic this time—all seats are cushioned, whether the booth seats or the bar stools, comfy and lush. Idols can sit anywhere they like, it seems.

There's alcohol available, but everything else is locked behind the wall-cabinet. . . the recipe book is also available to peruse at one's leisure.

Ah—the door opens, and a fuzzy sort of shade steps in. It looks like idols will be serving the Damned, today. . . ? ]

RECIPE BOOK

Comments

ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[heavyliesthecrown]

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[worthathousand]

Looking at the list of juices, this one could easily be lemon-lime soda, but don't you think cream soda sounds more interesting? More like a special treat, according to the description.

Perhaps that's what this guest is thinking of?

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[heavyliesthecrown]

Fufufu... it sounds very sweet, actually. I only have a somewhat sad memory regarding my grandfather, and I cannot remember my grandmother at all. But I imagine this would be something special to share with family.

Cream Soda sounds much more delicious in the end, anyway.

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[unbr8kable]

Is it s'posed to be special if their grandmother made it all the time?

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[worthathousand]

I suppose that's true; it depends on whether or not they lived in their grandmother's home. Perhaps it was medicinal, instead?

...Though I don't see anything here that really seems like it would qualify as healthy. Not the drinks with the bubbling soda in them, anyway.

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[unbr8kable]

Could've just been a way to get rid of the leftovers... Though I guess it sounds like the guy actually liked it...

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[worthathousand]

Well, it's got to be one or the other of them.
What is your vote, between the two?

...I suppose it could just be whichever we'd have more fun sampling along the way.

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[snowbirds]

Whatever it is, it sounds quite nice, doesn't it? It must be nice if it is sparkling!

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[worthathousand]

It's not something I ever got to try before coming to this place!
—Well, there was beer, of course, but I didn't realize you could get the effect without fermentation.

Do you have a suggestion, among the options?

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[snowbirds]

I must admit . . . I do not recognize many of these.

Re: ORDER 3 DISCUSSION

[worthathousand]

So far, Nemesis seems to be the only one, so you are in good company in that regard.

I was saying to her, though: I don't think there's anything stopping us from sampling the recipes ourselves, if we're curious.

MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[worthathousand]

[ Amaranth crushes some ice, trying to think... happy thoughts? fun thoughts? what kind of thoughts is she supposed to think?
And... oh no. By the time the memory finishes, her cheeks have gone bright pink. ]

-------------------

Sunlight filters through the flaps of your tent, where it dapples prettily across the sleeping women beside you—one on either side, their skin bare beneath the blankets. You’ve been self-indulgent, letting yourself sleep this late (that is, letting yourself sleep past dawn at all), but the soldiers had truly earned last night’s celebration. The residents of Hayashi Village had been eager, too, to show their gratitude for having been liberated from occupation by Viridian’s forces. And, well, they’d kept plying you with drinks and toasts and samples of their fine local sake… and the local women had been incredibly beautiful…

Well. Perhaps you had been due to release some of your own tension too.

Still, it wouldn’t do to miss the scouts’ morning reports, so you begin re-fastening the ties of your clothing, still half-smiling to yourself at the memory of the celebration…

Perhaps that’s why you don’t hear the polite cough from outside the tent. Or the slightly more insistent cough after that.

“Oh, this is ridiculous.” The voice is muffled.

All at once, daylight floods the tent as one of the flaps is brusquely shoved back, illuminating your two still-sleeping companions along with you, one breast still loose from its bindings. Silhouetted in the opening is a tall woman with some sort of case strapped over her shoulder. Her eyes have gone slightly wide.

You feel your cheeks flush as you yank the flap closed again with a curse that comes out a bit louder than you intended.

“Mela’s tits!” Tits, indeed.

It only takes a few minutes for you to finish getting dressed properly, and another two for you to strap on the fine armor that Lord Okudaira Noriko had commissioned for you (it’s a bit overkill, but you feel the need to compensate). Your cheeks stay hot the whole time.

Eventually, you find the woman sitting at the fire with your Scale Lords, her case—which you recognize as meant for carrying a koto—placed across her lap. She meets your eyes, and her lips curl at the edges in catlike amusement.

You have faced down hundreds of armored soldiers with nothing but your naginata, but no, this is absolutely how you die, isn’t it.

The moment passes (you lived, somehow), and the woman at last introduces herself. Her name is Nakajima Shiho, and she has been serving as a traveling messenger and bard ever since she lost her parents in the war; now, she has traveled to offer her services to the White Lily of Battle and her army—both as a chronicler, and as a potential diplomat. For, she says, a bard may travel freely where others may not. Apparently she had arrived in the pre-dawn hours, when it was said you preferred to wake. No wonder she had gotten so impatient.

“My lady—“ you begin, but she corrects you.

“I am no noblewoman.” She still has that faint, catlike smile, and you feel yourself blush again.

“Ah… Nakajima, then. I… ah… I cannot neglect my own duty so gravely as to allow a civilian to put herself at risk like a soldier. Indeed, it was with such purpose—ah, that is, the protection of civilians—that I first took up my blade.”

“Please, General Amakura, give me a chance to prove to you how invaluable my skills can be. You have long been the sharp edge of battle; if you but allow it, I will show you the disarming power of song.” A beat, and then she looks you straight in the eye. “Besides, haven’t I shown I’m skilled enough to surprise the great General herself?”

Oh, you are so doomed.

Re: MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[heavyliesthecrown]

[ HELP HIM HE'S DYING HE JUST SAW MOM NAKED WITH OTHER NAKED WOMEN. ]

Re: MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[worthathousand]

[ HELP HER SON JUST SAW HER NAKED WITH OTHER NAKED WOMEN. ]

Re: MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[heavyliesthecrown]

I- I DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING PLEASE DO NOT WORRY-

[ Clearly, he saw everything??? ]

Re: MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[unbr8kable]

...Oh wow.

[Somehow this feels both impressive and inappropriate???]

Re: MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[worthathousand]

I... ah.

[ her cheeks are flushed bright pink. ]

...Perhaps I should have... been more judicious.

[ in the memory? right now? yes. ]

Re: MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[unbr8kable]

Yeah... Guess you only got two hands, so...

1/3

[snowbirds]

[snowbirds]

Re: 1/3

[snowbirds]

They seem very nice.

Re: 1/3

[worthathousand]

[ a touch strained ] ...yES thank you she's my wIFE.

Re: MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[daios]

[Just going to marinate in the fact that like. He feels like he shouldn't be seeing this. He's interested in her son so she's like his mom or something???

Hades takes a long drink, and squints, and thinks.]

Well.

I suppose it is to be expected of the Great General......

Re: MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[worthathousand]

[ after stammering through some explanations for The Youths, her cheeks are now, somehow, even pinker than before.

she half-collapses against the bar, face in her hands. ]

Gods, that was embarrassing.
And somehow she still married me, after all that!

Re: MEMORY - Juice [mild nsfw: nudity, references to sex]

[daios]

Mmh. Perhaps it was not in spite of it. Perhaps that sort of thing was something she cherished about you.

[He shrugs. He can't help but be a little jealous, but the feeling fades quickly back into some embarrassed amusement. It shouldn't be as funny as it is, but. Look, it's pretty funny.]