✿ THE HOUSE ✿
Adra's house is a cozy stone cottage on the outskirts of Caissa, close enough to the sea that one can hear the breaking waves throughout the day.
This afternoon, there's light, cool rain falling intermittently, tapping in a rhythm at the windows and roof. Fortunately, the kitchen is warm, bright, and welcoming. Its counters and tables are covered with freshly prepared foods of all kinds, and there are plenty of chairs for visitors who might like to sit and relax.
A door from the kitchen leads out into the garden, which is not quite yet fully landscaped, but which boasts a promising array of flowers (orchids, roses, lilies, tulips, etc) and herbs. Adra's also cultivating strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, and so on; the strawberries and cherries in particular are ripe for picking. Adra has strung enchanted, floating fairy lights all over the garden; they cast a soft, ethereal glow over the paths and carefully tended patches of greenery. At the garden's center, there's a clear pond filled with red and pink lotus blossoms.
Back inside, a visitor might like to rest in the den. There's a roaring fire in the hearth, and sitting near it for a short while offers a boost to the weary spirit. Soft, plush chairs and couches fill this room, making it ideal for lounging. The tables are covered with books borrowed somewhat indiscreetly from the library; they deal largely with the magic and history of Enprise.
Adjacent to the den is Adra's study. In here are half-empty bookshelves and antique rolling desk covered with neat stacks of papers, boxes of quills, and numerous pots of ink, each one in different, brilliant colors. His journal is somewhere here, too ...
Finally, down the hall one will find a half bathroom and, across from that, the door to the second bedroom--belonging to one Gilgamesh. The master bedroom, belonging to Adrasteius, is at the end of the hall. There's a full bath in there, but this room is definitively locked.
✿ THE SPREAD ✿
As usual, Adra's gone over the top in his preparations. For drinks, there's a sweet, refreshing punch; delicately pink and decorated with sprigs of flowers. There are pitchers of sparkling ice water, jugs of wine and spiced mead, and plenty of glasses to share.
Though Adra does not eat meat himself, he prepares it ably; there's a honey-glazed, roasted turkey in the center of the table, right beside a carving board heavy with seasoned, hand-carved slices of fresh beef. Red potatoes, bright with paprika and salt and glistening with pats of melting butter, are arranged in wedges around the turkey. There are woven baskets of steaming rolls, flaky and soft; platters of carrots and broccoli and asparagus; enormous bowls of belly-warming soup filled with thick wheat noodles, sliced egg, and shredded cabbage. At one end of the table, there's a plate of burgers, along with small dishes to fix them--bacon, crispy onions, sauteed mushrooms, and all the necessary condiments. He has plates of savory pies, filled with beef or pork or chicken; steamed and fried dumplings stuffed with meat and spring vegetables, plump and perfectly shaped.
The desserts are similarly extravagant: he has a plate of meticulously crafted flower and fruit cakes; some look like ripe, blushing peaches, others, he shaped into red orchids, lotus blossoms, or golden roses. He's made a chocolate tart so dark that its smooth, sugar-dusted surface shimmers reflectively in the overhead light. Cupcakes of all kinds are scattered here and there, as well as an extravagant, multi-tiered confection dripping with fudge sauce, encrusted with sliced strawberries and vibrantly colorful, fondant flower petals. There are loaves of warm banana bread; fruit tarts glittery with rainbow sugar crystals; and, under glass, an assortment of flavorful macarons baked to look like something plucked right from the starry sky.
But the most important thing about Adra's lavish banquet is this: all of the food is enchanted, laced with magic meant to inspire feelings of comfort and security. Eating it may conjure up familiar, welcome sensations or memories--nothing sorrowful or painful, and only as specific as you'd like. It could be something as simple as the feeling of a fuzzy blanket on a cold day, or as complex as a particular soothing memory. In all cases, the intended effect is meant to inspire calm and ease.
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no subject
What was that, just now?
no subject
[sometimes, Kaito forgets that his scan spell alters his eye color. not realizing immediately that that's what Adra was referring to, he glances down at the book in his lap and then up again]
You wanna know what I'm reading?
[. . . and then, just because he's a brat]
Or are you asking me what a pitchfork is?
[SASS MASTER KAITO]
no subject
Ah, I've missed you, Kaito.
[ He gestures to the general vicinity of Kaito's face. ]
I meant your eyes.
no subject
Oh. That. Weird side-effect of my casting a certain spell.
[handwave, handwave. he gently shuts the book he was reading and sets it aside, reaching for another one in the same movement]
Don't ask me why the aesthetic change is necessary, 'cause I have yet to figure it out
no subject
That tome you just set aside--it was a treatise on the present state of magical theory. Did you get a lot out of it?
[ From an apparent cursory reading? ]
no subject
I read the whole thing.
[in like. two minutes?? he lifts his free hand and waves his fingers in a voodoo--like manner]
Magic, right?
no subject
[ He taps his chin, because he certainly doesn't have that skill. ]
Part of your current position, I assume.
no subject
[Kaito nods and leans back in the chair, hands linked behind his head]
And that's right. I discovered the spell once I got my new badge, so it must be an ability exclusive to Bishops.
no subject
[ It's said fondly, very fondly. How long ago was that? Only a few short months. Barely an exhalation of breath, as far as Adra's people reckon time. As far as humans reckon it, too. Yet all of them have already changed so much. ]
Now you're a natural.
[ And this, he says proudly, because he's glad. Magic has always been an essential part of his life, and it heartens him to see anyone take to it so well. ]
no subject
Oi, don't get me wrong, here! I still prefer my kind of magic-- sleights-of-hand-- over casting spells.
[TSUN HARDER, KAITO]
S'just gotten a little easier to perform the latter, now that I know how it works.