[PRP] Low Tea for Two [FINISHED]

[Daisicle]

Dai

Well, here he was. Sven. In the flesh. Standing at the start of the bridge, a basket in hand for only the MOST romantic of lunch picnics beneath the apple trees. His coworker had gotten him good, and now he had a bonafide date with his buddy's sister - apparently she'd be obvious to pick out.

Anyways, the irony of the situation wasn't lost to him by any means.

Mene

Alborada had actually taken some convincing to even come today. After all, what did she want to do with her meathead brother's meathead friend's smelly kitchen coworker? And she'd struck out with every guy she'd ever tried to go on a date with. They were either dirty, or boring, or uninterested in her. But Menahem had seemed really enthusiastic about this guy, and she figured worst case scenario she just wasted another afternoon.

She had arrived a few minutes early, since she wanted to be settled already when he arrived. She had spread out a blanket, made of textiles she'd created, under an apple tree, and sat down with her legs tucked under her rear. The afternoon light cast dappled shadows on her pale skin, and she fussed with her hair while she waited. Once he'd appeared at the footbridge she gave a little wave. Huh--he even had a picnic basket. Not too bad so far.

 

[Daisicle]

Dai

Sven tried his darndest to put on a smile as he offered a wave back to the female and continued to approach. From the looks of things, she'd found a nice spot out of the sunlight, so she had a head with common sense if nothing else.

And as he approached, well... He had to hand it to his colleague, she was actually quite nice to look at. Unlike what he'd imagined - a kinda grimy, buff fanatic of a female - she had these almost petite limbs (for a faun anyways) and the way her hair - clearly cared for, very important, tousled against her shoulders and back gave her a nice, delicate feel.

He was suddenly feeling much, much more motivated.

Still standing, he slowed as he approached to give her time to react how she wanted. He then offered a hand while he greeted her. "You must be Alborada - my colleague Menahem has told me so much about you... is what I'd like to say, but he really didn't. I'm Sven. I'm looking forward to spending some time getting to know you." Was that too awkward? Who knew.

Mene

Alba artfully contained her surprise as Sven approached. She'd envisioned a hulking brute with food stains on his fur who stunk of onion. This? This was not that. He was lithe and neat, meticulously groomed, and she just couldn't get over that damn picnic basket. She was appropriately charmed, which showed on her face.

"You can call me Alba, all my friends do," she said and motioned for him to sit near her. "And I can't say that my brother's friend said much about you, either, except that you worked together and he thought you might be 'my type'." What even was her type?

Dai

He nodded once at her cue at sat down near her - not next to her, but comfortably close-yet-apart - while staying on the blanket. Except his hooves, he notably made sure they remained off the edge. He'd have hated to dirty her lovely linen like that. "Thank you, Alba." He sat the basket next to him, now more concerned it wouldn't be to her liking than prior.

"I'd have to agree with some of his comments - you do have lovely hair and skin. I've never really understood pae having 'types' though..." he trailed off and scratched his chin. Subject change! "So... what do you usually do?" Smooth

Mene

Frankly Alba was surprised Menahem was capable of noticing such things, but she made a mental note to thank him, or something. "Fabric," she responded, "I spin fibers into thread, then weave that thread into fabric and then if I'm not bored yet I even make stuff from the fabric." She patted the blanket beneath them. "But the spinning and weaving is what takes most of my time."

Dai

"Hmm..." he nodded as she spoke. "So do you send most of it to the clothiers or other - I don't know what other jobs would use fabric... linenmakers? - instead then?" It was mysterious how her hair almost seemed to leave her skin glowing. "It does feel nice and soft. Does that come from the fibers?"

 

[Daisicle]

Mene

Never ever had a guy even pretended to be interested in her craft before. It was like they heard "fabric" and spaced out entirely. Alba couldn't help but smile. "Yeah! Like I can and do make stuff out of my own fabrics, but as far as my work is concerned it's the spinning and weaving. The fabric then goes to the clothiers and other sewists who make whatever their job is to make--clothes, blankets and bedclothes, that kind of thing." She shifted her body position to be more comfortable, then nodded again. "Wool can be itchy, but I make sure to wash, dry, and comb twice the fibers before I spin them. It makes the thread, and then the fabric, softer. There's other fibers I could make stuff out of but we don't really have the capacity right now. Like, linen is made from flax and it's much softer for things like blankets but there's a whole process to get it to the stage where I could spin it." She shrugged cheerfully. "One day!"

After a pause, she realized that she should ask about him. "What about you? Menahem's always moaning about how much prep work he has to do, but surely there's some actual cooking involved." She finished with a small, cheeky smile.

Dai

Oh that was a lovely smile - might have even been the first time Sven had thought something like that. Frankly, he really couldn't care less about the nuances of the fabric, but it was hard to say the same about her clear passion for what she was doing. You didn't tend to see that as much.

"Wool is...?" he trailed off slightly with his implied question. He certainly didn't know the differences between materials.

"Prep work is easily over half of it... If everything in't ready beforehand, you can easily end up rushed and making mistakes. I'm sure you've had a few meals in the dinner hall that obviously had variable quality." He grimaced slightly before sighing. "But whatever Menahem's been saying to you about the job is probably correct. He can be dramatic, but he doesn't lie at least."

Mene

"Oh!" Alba chuckled. "Wool is made from animal fibers. So like, sheep, goats, alpaca, that sort of thing." In theory wool could also be made from the Fauns' own fur, but most people found that idea a bit weird so she left it out.

She nodded along to his explanation. "What's your favorite thing to cook?" she asked. He'd indulged her chattering about her profession, now she wanted to hear his.

 

[Daisicle]

Dai

"Huh, interesting." Not really, but he could pretend. Hopefully his tone didn't give him wholly away.

He fell into silent thought as he considered her question. "I've never really given it much thought. I just like making food that's delicious. Perhaps baking? Or appetizers? Smaller items - they're cuter and prettier."

Mene

"I'd never really thought of food as being cute before," said Alba thoughtfully, tapping her chin. "But I totally see it now that you mention it. There's an art to it, yeah?"

Alba eyed the picnic basket, unable to contain her curiosity anymore. "What've you brought in the basket?" she asked, injecting what she hoped was a flirtatious tone into her voice.

Dai

Sven nodded as he crossed his arms, pleased she understood. Or at least pretended well enough to.

That said, he blinked and tilted his head slightly before furrowing his brows, evidently confused from her question which, in turn, caused him to miss the tone in her voice. "It's food - this is a luncheon after all." His own tone was deadpan without a hint of sarcasm as he gave his 100% serious response.

Mene

This earned a soft giggle from Alba. "Well, yes, I suppose I should've been more specific. I'm excited to see what's inside...I'm not very good at waiting or surprises."

Dai

Ah, that's what she meant. Wait... Of course she meant that. Oh Laisidhiel how stupid could he be sometimes? Must be his genetics...

He brought the basket closer to him and opened the lid in a manner that she still wouldn't be able to see inside. "Speaking of small foods... Well... Do you care for tea...?"

Mene

"Tea?" She repeated, blinking. "I would love tea," she clarified, eyeing the basket with curiosity. There was no way he could have brought a whole tea, was there?

Dai

There was.

Nodding once, Sven produced a set of wooden accessories from within the basket, which he assembled into a portable sort of 3-tiered server. He then began to pull out an plate a number of unique dishes he'd made for the occasion. He was embarrassed to admit, but he'd ended up quite excited when preparing for this ocassion and may have gone a touch overboard.

On the top tier, he placed a pastry akin to scones or biscuits, though certainly on the butterier side. He'd been experimenting more with dairy in cooking since the tree's ability to source goat's milk had improved with access to Breeheart. They were kept small - perhaps finishable in two small or one large bite - and had little ramekins of clotted goat's cream and rhubarb jam just lightly seasoned with cinnamon.

The second tier housed three varieties of finger sandwiches, one of each kind for each of them. One was an egg salad seasoned with ground mustard and lemon and placed between a country bread. One involved spreading butter onto white bread, topping with thinly sliced sweet onion, salt, and mayonnaise, and then pressing the sides into chopped parsely. And the last was a cute strawberry-cream cheese placed between the fluffiest bread he could manage, made in such a way that the fruit was visible from the sides. While each of these were simple, they'd been carefully prepared to be identical sizes and in a manner that made them, hopefully, visually-appealing.

The final tier had a few desserts, including a mixed berry tart topped with mint, carrot bread filled with vegetable pieces, nuts, and spices, and some shortbread sprinkled with granulated sugar.

All in all, it made for a rather impressive presentation.

 

[Daisicle]

Mene

Color flushed to Alba's face as she watched Sven pull out and assemble such an impressive presentation. And he had done all this for her? Sight unseen? Abject awe on her face, her eyes sparkled as delight after delight was set out. She dared not speak to ruin the magic. She put one hand daintily over her lips.

When he had finished, she breathed out a small "wow", then looked back to him. "When you said tea, I didn't think you meant like, tea tea!" She practically bubbled. "Did you make all this? Everything is so beautiful!" She couldn't help herself. She was caught up in the magic of the details; the uniform sandwiches, the delicate pastries, the little mint leaves on those tarts....and who had told him that carrot bread was her favorite? Her eyes sparkled.

Dai

Sven was so focused on plating everything just so that he didn't have time to check on Alba's reaction to each individual thing. In fact, he hadn't glanced away from what he was doing until he was finished. He immediately felt a bit awkward. Oh Laisidhiel, he knew he'd overdone it! He'd gone and gotten too into it all, figuring that even if the date was bad, at least the food wouldn't be.

He was trying to figure out how to improve the situation when it quickly turned from awkward embarrassment to flustered embarrassment at the direct compliment. "Oh uh... yes, I made it all... Though I did have some help from Mena..." He wasn't used to compliments. His voice may have risen an octave as he moved to reach into the basket for the final bits and followed up with, "Tea?"

 

[Daisicle]

Mene

Alba nodded eagerly. She couldn't wait to taste everything! She couldn't help but blush. Never, in all her dates, had a guy gone to even a fraction of this effort. Alba scooched a little closer, maybe not even consciously.

"What sort of tea have you brought?" she asked. She wasn't exactly a tea connoisseur (she liked it all), but she was friends with the tea curator and knew some of the names for things.

Alba didn't want to take anything from the display until indicated. She didn't want to ruin the magic.

Dai

From the basket he pulled out a clay canister that was warm to the touch and filled with liquid that, while no longer boiling, would still be comfortably hot. He then got a pair of wooden cups and poured the liquid into each before passing one over to her.

"Careful, it's hot."

Mene

"Thank you," said Alba, accepting the cup. She put it to her nose and let the steam rise gently over her face. "It smells lovely," she said, then had a small sip.

Dai

After closing the container and setting it to the side, but within reach, he also took a sip. "It's an earl grey I believe." He hoped it'd be to her liking, as traveling with cream or sugar would not have worked.

Mene

Typically Alba would indeed put a splash of milk in her tea, but she didn't say anything about it today. She smiled at Sven over her cup. "Thank you," she said again, "I'm impressed that you got it to stay hot for so long."

Dai

"Feel free to start snacking if you'd like - there's enough for each of us to have one, but if there's anything you particularly like, you're free to my portion." Another sip of tea, precisely the same amount as the time prior. "The clay keeps it from cooling too quickly."

Mene

Had he caught her eyeballing the food? Because truthfully she was having trouble waiting. Grinning, Alba went straight for the carrot bread. "It's my favorite," she explained, munching on it daintily. She was amazed at how delicate it was, despite being a rather sturdy dessert. Sven really was incredibly skilled.

They ate and talked together, their conversation moving from the food itself (and Alba cooing over how delicious everything was) to food and drink more generally, to their hobbies, to their powers (they both glowed!), to other lighthearted topics. Alba almost asked about his family but decided that wasn't really first-date conversation.

 

[Daisicle]

Dai

Sven found himself growing more relaxed one the talking, eating, and drinking was fully underway. Never to the point that he brought his hooves onto the blanket, mind you, but his posture wasn't quite so stiff anymore. It was almost curious - it'd been a while since he'd genuinely found even basic conversation enjoyable. And while he wasn't the best at these social situations, she at least seemed to be enjoying herself as well.

As much as he hated it, he might have to thank Mena for this one.

Time passed and they were returning across the bridge, their items in hand and their bodies perhaps a bit closer to each other than they otherwise would have been. He glanced at her from the side, once again aware at how nice her figure was and just how clean her hair was kept - surely the way the afternoon sun made it glow was more than the fact that it did actually glow. While he did want to go ahead and ask if she'd be willing to do this again... honestly, he was a bit tongue-tied at the moment

Mene

Alba paused on the bridge before they had fully crossed. The blanket was draped over one arm and she held it against her stomach. This day had been magical, unlike anything from even her wildest dreams. She thought of herself as "high-maintenance", but maybe she didn't actually need that much. Just some simple attention to detail. Or maybe the other guys she'd tried to date were really just that poorly matched. "I had a wonderful time today," she offered softly, with a gentle smile. "I'd like to see you again."

Dai

Sven returned and nodded. "You know... I did too. And I think I'd enjoy that." Thank Laisidhiel for direct women. "Did you... wanna decide when now...? Or maybe later?"

Mene

"What about a fortnight from now?" suggested Alba. "My work can be flexible so I am free anytime. Another picnic would be fun, or we could do something else if you didn't want to make all this food again."

Dai

"Sure." His response was immediate, almost too much so, but he paused as he fell into thought regarding the activity, his hoofsteps slowing as well. He was inclined to offer to teach her to cook these recipes, but he had an inklings he'd get 'too' into it and end up getting snappy if she started messing anything up. It'd be too stressful. Oh Laisidhiel that would just be bad bad bad.

There was always the pub, but Sven preferred to cook whatever went into his body. He'd be too judgey.

Maybe they could visit the archives to read? No... As much as he'd enjoy the atmosphere, that'd probably be a boring choice at this point. What was good to follow up on from a picnic? Sure, she'd said another picnic, but wouldn't she think that was too repetitive...

No, no. What was he thinking? The repetition would make it perfect! Yes, another picnic, but this time... "How about a picnic... in the branches? After the evening meal. Would that work...?"

Mene

Alba blushed and let out a little giggle. "Sounds romantic," she said. A little candlelit picnic, at night....she was already thinking how she'd style her hair for maximum glowy effect. And if it were after the evening meal, she bet he'd bring a dessert picnic. She was all for being spoiled by more of his cooking, but felt like she wanted to contribute something as well. "I'll bring the blanket again. Shall I bring a dessert wine?" she inquired with a little flirtatious tone.

Dai

Little did he know that his current plans were not fully what she'd be expecting. "Oh, sure, please do." He missed the nuance of her tone as he nodded in confirmation. Yes, he'd have to make sure this one was just as good as before, so not having to worry about that would make it easier.

"By the way, do you eat meat...?"

Mene

That hadn't been a question she'd been expecting, but after the meal they'd had today she was inclined to trust him on whatever he'd be bringing. "Mm, no, but I do eat eggs and dairy and the like," she responded. She was a little pouty that he'd missed her subtle come-on, but she'd just have to be more obvious next time.

Dai

"Noted." He nodded again - he'd planned on bringing some of their cured meats, so good thing he'd asked. And thank goodness he hadn't included any in the sandwiches. It was interesting that so many of the fauny were strict vegetarians.

As this conversation came to a natural conclusion, so did they find themselves reaching the doors to the tree. Kind of poetic actually. With another small smile, he offered a hand (for a handshake, the dork). "I'll see you again soon - hopefully I can meet your expectations."